Tost: 'For this reason Gasly lost it to the slower Ferrari'

Charles Leclerc started the Russian Grand Prix in eleventh position and finally crossed the finish line in sixth position. A great result for the teased Ferrari, who barely made it to the top. What was remarkable was that Leclerc finished ahead of higher qualified drivers, including Pierre Gasly. According to AlphaTauri team boss Franz Tost, this is due to the tire rules.

Older tires

Gasly placed himself on the ninth position and because he was able to reach Q3, it was mandatory to start on older tires, the one he also used in Q2. Leclerc was unable to make Q3 and had an exemption in the tire selection, despite being put forward for the penalty for Alexander Albon.

Gasly managed to keep Leclerc behind him, but as his tires were older he had to go to the pit sooner. As a result, Leclerc only followed ten laps later on a new set of medium tires resulting in a seven-second lead. In the end it was the tire rules that made this happen.

Adverse qualification

"I must say it was a little bit of a disadvantage to finish the qualifying on the ninth or 10th position," says Tost to Racingfans. "It would have been much better to finish qualifying 11th and to start with the prime. Because look what Leclerc did. Ferrari were slower than us but they had a big advantage to start with the medium tyre."

"And therefore he could stay out much longer and he could open the gap when Pierre had to come in to change the tyres from the option to the base. Then he lost in the traffic. This was why Leclerc finished in front of us.” Another bad luck is that Gasly went in during the virtual safety car, but it was over faster than expected. As a result, he lost places on Albon and Norris.

Nevertheless, Tost says the biggest loss is in the qualifying positions and the benefits or restrictions it brings in terms of tires.