Christian Horner hails strong Gasly performance in qualifying despite penalty

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner has hailed the performance in qualifying from new recruit Pierre Gasly, as the Brit also explained why Bulls star Max Verstappen wasn't able to have two runs in Q3.

Qualifying was more like practice for Gasly, who knew beforehand he'll be starting from the pitlane anyway after receiving a penalty during FP2.

The Frenchman did run in Q1, however, and actually topped the timesheet during the session, something which Horner likes to see from the 23-year-old.

“It was an interesting qualifying today after several red flags and Pierre did a very good job to go fastest in Q1," he said.

“In Q2, we elected not to run Pierre as he will start tomorrow’s race from the pit lane due to his weighbridge penalty, but Max was able to go quickest during the session."

When speaking about Verstappen, who eventually qualified in fourth, Horner revealed why the Dutchman wasn't able to do a second run in the Q3 shoot-out.

"Max, unfortunately, flat-spotted a tyre so needed to run again in Q1, which reduced the number of tyres available to him later in qualifying, but nonetheless we finished Q1 first and fourth.

"After the delay following Leclerc’s incident, Q3 finally got underway and with one set of tyres available, the best approach was quick-slow-quick which put Max out of sync with the drivers that had two sets remaining.

“Whilst he had the benefit of having a clear lap, he unfortunately didn’t have a tow as it would have been impossible to synchronise the different run strategies from the other teams.

“Overall, it was a strong qualifying with Max starting on the second row and Pierre’s time in Q1 would have put him sixth on the grid. A really encouraging display from Pierre and we now look forward to tomorrow’s race.”