Gasly: 'A lot is expected of us in Austria'

Last year Pierre Gasly finished seventh and fifteenth at the Red Bull Ring. He says: "After my home race in France, now one week later it’s a home circuit for all of us as a Red Bull team. A lot will be expected of us there from Red Bull, from AlphaTauri and all the team’s partners."

"We have to keep pushing like that. We already saw last year that with two races on the same track, the gaps are very close, especially on what is a very short track, and you have to look to improve from one weekend to the next. Staying there two weekends in a row means the cars are optimised and of course we drivers have found out how to be on the absolute limit. It means that in Qualifying especially, it will be extremely tight."

Qualifying is tight in Austria

Like Gasly, Tsunoda is also looking forward to the races in Austria. He has not driven a Formula 1 car there before, but he did race there in Formula 2. “Austria is another circuit where I have raced before. In fact, last year in Formula 2, I took pole and finished second in the feature race of the second weekend we had there. That is good for my confidence, but in a Formula 1 car, it will be a quite different experience, so I will need to gradually build up my pace in practice and make progress through the sessions."

For Qualifying, it’s going to be very tight, because it is such a short lap and very quick, so you have to put it all together to nail your lap and have a good result. It will be an important couple of weekends for all of us in the Red Bull family and it will be nice to race in front of a crowd for another race," he concluded.