Gasly on a high after qualifying third in Vegas

Pierre Gasly kept his focus on Formula 1’s midfield battle despite the thrill of qualifying a surprise third for Saturday’s Las Vegas Grand Prix.

The French driver’s grid position was Renault-owned Alpine’s best of the season and followed their remarkable podium double at the previous race in Brazil.

Gasly will start ahead of the top four in the drivers’ standings, including Red Bull’s runaway world championship leader Max Verstappen and McLaren’s title contender Lando Norris.

The only cars ahead of him are the Mercedes of pole sitter George Russell and Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, sixth and fifth respectively in the championship.

“I think we know where the target is for us. We’re fighting Haas and AlphaTauri [Red Bull-owned RB] in the constructors’ [championship],” Gasly told reporters.

“Obviously, whatever happened in that quali is amazing. It feels good to be in front of Max and McLaren and these guys. But at the end of the day, it’s not our fight.”

Alpine are sixth overall, a position they seized after their bumper points haul in Brazil lifted them from ninth, but only three points clear of Haas and five ahead of RB.

Haas had Nico Hulkenberg qualify ninth while RB’s Yuki Tsunoda will line up seventh. Gasly’s French team mate Esteban Ocon, second in Brazil, qualified 11th.

“Obviously, it’s only qualifying, but I think it’s probably the first time I qualify in the top three. And it feels like it was a special one,” said Gasly, who won the 2020 Italian Grand Prix with AlphaTauri from 10th on the grid.

In Bahrain at the start of the season in March, the Alpine drivers had filled the back row.

Gasly was also last on the grid in Britain, started from the pit lane in Hungary in July and was disqualified from qualifying in Azerbaijan but the team have been coming on strongly since.

“He’s been happy all weekend,” said Alpine team boss Oliver Oakes, who took over in August.

“I think since Austin [last month] you’ve seen every weekend we’re getting better with this upgrade. There’s a bit of dialling in. Pierre’s driving well, you can see that, he’s putting it all together.”