Toro Rosso debutant Pierre Gasly believes he was well prepared for his first-ever Formula One qualifying session following years of "massive" pressure placed on him by Red Bull.
Gasly replaced Daniil Kvyat at Toro Rosso ahead of this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix and got within 0.15s of Carlos Sainz on his way to qualifying 15th, one place behind his teammate.
The 2016 GP2 champion joined the Red Bull junior programme in 2013 following his title triumph in Formula Renault Eurocup, and has gone on to win races in Formula Renault 3.5 as well as Japan's Super Formula, a series he currently sits second in.
When asked if he felt nervous heading into qualifying, Gasly replied: "I was actually surprised when I was in the car because I didn't feel so much the pressure I just felt good because I was exactly where I wanted to be.
"So I was like 'OK it's time to do your best and just focus on the things to do in the car' and going out of the pit lane I was already thinking about what I had to do to make sure I would be competitive.
"It's actually something I'm pretty pleased about. I've been put under massive pressure from Red Bull since I'm in the programme and definitely feel like I had to handle the situation to do well today."
Gasly impressed as he eased into the second part of qualifying with a lap good enough for eighth place, though he failed to improve on his pace in the next segment. The Frenchman reckons he could have gone even faster had he enjoyed a better preparation lap before setting his Q2 effort.
"I think in Q2 we didn't really manage to extract everything on the second run," he explained. "Everyone was queuing in the last sector and I didn't manage to get the tyres in the right temperature for the last sector so I lost like 0.25s up to Turn 5, gained a bit in the last sector to finish a tenth off compared to my best.
"I felt that we could have done slightly better, but it was the same for everyone. We can always do better. Overall it was good. So that's the main thing, and I'll keep working for the next races. I can feel that I'm still feeling better and better lap after lap. I think it's quite promising for the future."
Gasly says he was pleased to get so close to Sainz' time, adding he feels the Spaniard is a good benchmark for him to learn from going forwards.
"Carlos [Sainz] is really quick, so he's a really good benchmark for me. I still need to work, I still can do better. I think it will be good to compare with Carlos where the difference is and I have already a few ideas on where I can improve and feel more confident in the car, but I just will take time."