Bruce confident Free Practice risks can translate into top-five pace in Montreal Qualifying

Megan Bruce was the fastest rookie in Free Practice in Montreal and the TAG Heuer driver is optimistic that her setup gamble has set her up well for what’s to come in Qualifying.

Enjoying her first appearance at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, Bruce clocked in a 1:39.858 to go third-fastest, 0.487s behind Campos Racing teammate Alisha Palmowski.

Speaking after her debrief, Bruce was satisfied by her steady improvements throughout the 40 minutes of running and relished her time out on track.

“It was good progress throughout the session,” she said. “It started out as very, very dusty. It was just about adapting each lap because it’s a narrow and new circuit, so it was about pushing the braking at each corner bit by bit.”

Bruce added: “I love the track! I was excited to come here before and then after driving around, I think it’s a really cool circuit. It’s bumpy, you’re close to the walls. It’s a really good track and it’s one of my favourites.”

The Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve put the field through its paces, with the 4.361km track proving challenging from the outset. Greeted by dusty conditions as the first cars out on track, Turns 6 and 8 also saw several spins and brushes with the wall.

With two Formula 1 and two Formula 2 session before she can next get out on track, Bruce is already anticipating the jump in track evolution and highlighted the need to constantly be alert to any changes throughout Qualifying.

READ MORE: PRACTICE: Palmowski sets the pace ahead of Felbermayr in Montreal

“We were first out for our Free Practice so it was the dustiest its going to be," she noted. "To have F1 and F2 out for two sessions each now, it’s probably going to be a completely different track. There’ll be a lot more grip, so it will be about adapting again.

“We adapted well and learnt the circuit quickly in Free Practice, so as long as we keep those improvements going into Qualifying, then we can have a good one.

“The key priority to improve on the track grip because that will be the biggest adaptation. Then obviously being consistent for those two laps because you can have one fast lap, but you need to be able to replicate it again. It’ll be about consistency but also building up to the grip.”

Bruce has been looking ahead to Qualifying from the outset, opting to gamble on running with the low downforce setup in Practice rather than the medium to high rear wing used for the races.

After Shanghai Qualifying saw her languish down in P14, the 21-year-old is confident that the pace she had already shown gives her the potential to make inroads up the order.

“The rear wing has been the biggest difference compared to what I was used to last year,” explained Bruce. “I struggled a bit with it in China, but I thought we need to adapt and make it work at some point, so I wanted to start straight off in Practice with the lower rear wing.

“If I can improve on that into Qualifying even more then it will be even better because we made good progress from Shanghai to Silverstone testing and then to here.”

She added: “The aim is always to be in the top eight because you need that for points across the whole weekend. Successful would be the top five because we’ve just shown we have the pace for the top three. I’d be happy with that.”