Alpine driver Pierre Gasly says it♈’s “crazy” that he was able to qualify on the sec🐈ond row of the grid for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Alpine has made a woeful start to the 202💃5🌃 Formula 1 season and remains the only team to score a point after the opening three rounds.

But the A525 appears genuinely quick around the Bahrain International Circuit this week, with Gasly set to take the start in fourth place after a penalty for Mercedes rival 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

Last year, Alpine duo168澳洲5最新开奖结果: Esteban Ocon and Gasly🌼 qualified 19th and 20th in Bahrain, making the French team’s turnaround all the more i⭕mpressive.

“We were in a very different picture [compared to 12 months ago],” said Gasly. “I’m so happy, honest𝓀ly.

ꦅ“It was a very special lap in Q2 and Q3. You get this excitement coming out of the last corner afte𓆉r your lap. I knew it was good, I didn't expect it to be that good relative to the others.

“I’m just꧑ happy for the whole team because it hasn't been easy these first few races. Even this weekend has been quite tricky, even in Q1 I didn’t feel fully comfortable in the car, but step-by-step [[with] little things, we managed to put that off.”

Gasly’s best effort of 1m30.216s was less than four-tenths slower than 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Oscar Piastri’s time in the pole-sitting McLaren.

The 29-year-old also lapped just 0.041s slower than Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who will start the race in second after a one-place grid drop for 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:George Russell.

“That's mad. Honestly, it's crazy,” he said when told about🌱 the gap to Piastr꧟i. “Very close to pole and even to P3 I was four hundredths [off].

“When I saw [it] on the screen 🅰I was m♏ad. It is so tight.”

Gasly’s teammate 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Jack Doohan qualified 11th on the grid, missing out on his first Q3 berth by just 0.017s to Red Bull’s 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Yuki Tsunoda.

For Gasly, the performance of the two Alpines in Bahrain qualifying is proof that the A525🐼 has the potential to succeed in F1.

“I'm just really pleased because it really shows there is potential in the car which I believe [in] and I can feel it,” ⛦he said.

“The window is extremely narrow but we do need these first points for the team. I'm looking forw🌃ard to ꦗthe fight tomorrow.”