Pierre Gasly: I have a good starting position.

      Pierre Gasly was close to reaching the Japanese Grand Prix qualifying final, but he was less than a tenth of a second short. His Alpine teammate Jack Duane finished the fight in the first session for the second time in a row, showing the nineteenth time.

      Pierre Gasly (11th): "I have mixed emotions after qualifying. As expected, the fight is very tight – a large number of cars separated the minimum gaps.

      Our car handled well, I was happy with the balance and I could really attack in the corners, especially in the first and third sectors where we were competitive. I knew that I would waste time on the second sector, given the choice of settings.

      Overall, the whole team did a good job because the car feels much better. I feel confident and I have a good starting position. There is a chance of rain in the race, but I welcome it. It's more interesting to fight on a wet track and there are additional opportunities to show a good result. Let's see how it goes.

      " Jack Duane (19th): "Thank you to the team for working hard to prepare the car. They had to put in a lot of effort, and I'm very grateful for that.

      I started the third training session as a laggard, so I had to take big steps forward every time I hit the track. The car handles quite well, but it still lacks stability. We have to analyze the reasons.

      Given the speed, it was possible to enter the second part of qualifying, but I made a small mistake on the way out of the Spoon turn on the final lap when the car showed understeer. I had to release the accelerator pedal, which led to a loss of time on the straight.

      The forecast for tomorrow promises changeable weather, and this leaves a chance to win back the race. We didn't drive on a wet track this weekend, so everyone will be on an equal footing. Anyway, no matter what the weather is, I'll try to go upstairs."