Pierre Gasly says his best lap during qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix “felt like a pole position” for his Toro Rosso Formul🌌a 1 team. 

Gasly, who received praise from Red Bull boss Christian Hor♕ner in Brazil for his performances since his mid-season demotion from the senio𒆙r team, made it into Q3 for the fourth race in succession and set the seventh-fastest time, just 1.3s off the pace of polesitter and former teammate Max Verstappen. 

The Frenchma𒀰n will be evaluated to sixth on the Interlagos grid for Sunday’s grand pri⛄x once Charles Leclerc’s engine penalty is applied. 

“I’m really happy♒ with how qualifyi🔯ng went today,” Gasly explained. 

“I’d 🥂like to pass on a massive thanks to the team for gi🧔ving me a competitive car.

“It feels like pole positio💛n for us today as P7 in the midfield is the best we ca💞n expect. We knew it was going to be a tight Qualifying, so it feels great to get my fourth Q3 in a row.

“I felt good in the car all weekend, now we need to stay focussed for the race and finish the job by scoring a🐼s many points as possible.”

It was a strong day for Honda with three of its four-p🐷owered cars making it into the top 10. Gasly's Toro Rosso teammate Daniil Kvyat was the odd one out after a scruffy run in Q2 saw him eliminated in 16th. 

“It’s just a shame,” Kvyat said. “I was feeling really g✱ood in the car during FP3 this morning and I was positive going into qualifying꧑. 

“Then in the afternoon, thꦇe car wasn’t in🎃 the right balance window anymore. 

“On the second run I made a couple of mistakes which didn’t allow me to improve ܫon my time, I’m not sure what happened, but I lost the rhythm🐻 and I couldn’t put everything together.

“However, my race pace is generally strong, and even if P16 isn’t ideal but let’s see what ꦆwe can do in the race.”