Pierre Gasly kept his focus on the Formula 1 midfield battle despite the tension of a surprise third qualifying for the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Saturday.

The French driver’s grid position was the best of the season for Renault-owned Alpine, and followed their remarkable double podium finish at the previous race in Brazil.

Gasly starts ahead of the top four in the drivers’ standings, including Red Bull’s runaway world championship leader Max Verstappen and McLaren’s title contender Lando Norris.

The only cars ahead of him are polesitter George Russell’s Mercedes and Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari, sixth and fifth in the championship respectively.

“I think we know where the goal is for us. We are fighting Haas and AlphaTauri (Red Bull’s RB) in the Constructors’ Championship,” Gasly told reporters.

“Obviously whatever happened in that qualifying is great. It feels good to be in front of Max, McLaren and these guys. But ultimately it’s not our battle.”

Alpine are sixth in the overall standings, a position they gained after their record points tally in Brazil lifted them from ninth place, but just three points ahead of Haas and five points ahead of RB.

Haas allowed Nico Hülkenberg to qualify ninth, while RB’s Yuki Tsunoda will finish seventh. Gasly’s French teammate Esteban Ocon, second in Brazil, qualified eleventh.

“Obviously it’s only about qualifying, but I think it’s probably the first time I’ve qualified in the top three. And it feels like it was a special one,” said Gasly, who won the 2020 Italian Grand Prix with AlphaTauri from tenth place on the grid. .

In Bahrain, the Alpine drivers had filled the back row at the start of the season in March.

Gasly was also last on the grid in Britain, pitted in Hungary in July and was disqualified from qualifying in Azerbaijan, but the team has been on the rise since then.

“He’s been happy all weekend,” said Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes, who took over in August.

“I think you’ve seen every weekend since Austin (last month) that we’re getting better with this upgrade. There’s a bit of dial-in work. Pierre is driving well, you can see that, he’s putting it all together.”