‘The car is quick’ says Giusti after ending Monza Free Practice on top

Alessandro Giusti was fastest in the Monza Free Practice and is hoping for more of the same in Qualifying. However, he does not believe pole position is vital to him having a good weekend in Italy.

The Frenchman’s 1:37.445 was the quickest time of the session, and impressively for MP Motorsport, he led a 1-2-3 for the team with Tuukka Taponen and Mattia Colnaghi in behind.

Speaking in the paddock afterwards, Giusti was impressed by their performance in what he felt was a largely clean session.

“It was good, it was decent,” said Giusti. “We executed well and we did a good lap. We had a good tow and the car is quick so just need the same for quali.

“Everyone wants a tow because in Monza it's nearly not possible to do a good lap without the tow, so everyone wants to have a clear tow and that's what I had.

“It was quite a clean FP but I think quali will be even more messy but I hope it will be safe for everyone and we can all have good laps.”

Giusti set his time with the Soft tyres that they will be using in Qualifying after starting the session on their carry over Hards from the Madrid test.

The Williams Driver Academy member was happy to get a feel for the car on the softer compound going into the pole position shootout later today.

"I think there was quite a big gain on the softer tyre, it was really good,” Giusti continued. “I think the track was quick, and we were easily a second quicker than last year’s FP.

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“I think we will be a bit slower for quali because of the hot temperature, but anyway it doesn't change anything, it will be the same for everyone so we just need to do our job.”

Looking ahead to Qualifying, Giusti is set to run in Group B, and while he says he will be looking for a tow, he feels that getting in a clean lap is more important in the battle for top spot.

“Last year it was not that messy to be honest, everyone got a clean lap,” he said. “I think this year the goal is to have the same quali. It will be easier for everyone but I mean everyone wants a tow of like one or two seconds, something like this.

“Around here you don't have so many corners, there is a lot of high speeds, so a good tow is needed, but if it's a mess it's better to do a lap as well.

“So if you had the choice of having a tow but doing no laps and having no tow but doing laps, it would be the second choice, so that's something we need to be good at and we need to look for in quali.”

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As for his goals in the afternoon session, Giusti acknowledges pole position would be nice, but that around Monza, it is not the be all and end all.

“To get pole would be nice but here it's not the fastest always with pole,” he concludes. “I feel like I just need to be in the good group for the race. Last year the winner never started on the front row, so I mean just start in a good position would be nice.

“I would be happy with a place in the top six but if it's pole for sure we'll take it, it's two points and to do pole in Monza, my origin being a bit Italian, it would be good to get it here, so I'll be happy.”