Pierre Gasly admitted he made a mistake which caused his heavy crash at turn nine during today’s test.
The Red Bull driver made heavy contact with the barrier in his RB15. Video footage indicated he touched the grass on the entry to the corner and lost control of the car as he turned in.“I made a mistake in turn nine basically lost the car,” Gasly explained. “Really big crash. One of the biggest crashes I had.”
Gasly apologised to the team for the mistake and said he hopes they are able to get the car repaired in time for Max Verstappen to complete the final day of testing tomorrow.
“It’s a long night for the mechanics now. I’m sorry for that. What’s important is we can get Max in the car tomorrow and then we’ll focus on the positives. We managed to do a lot of testing today and we have a lot to analyse.”
Gasly, who has now competed his pre-season testing, said he’s encouraged by the performance and reliability of the Red Bull.
“I think the car, the package we have at the moment – the chassis, the engine – made a good step. The reliability was good overall. We have good performance.
“We just need to understand how to maximise the package we have so we might not be the favourite or the fastest at the moment but we’ll work out for Melbourne and try to come there with the best car we have.”
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Jere (@jerejj)
28th February 2019, 17:49
Two costly errors from him during this pre-season testing phase already. Hopefully, this isn’t going to be the trend when it matters, or he might get demoted back to STR.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
28th February 2019, 17:51
Kvyat’s breathing intensifies
@jerejj
prelvu (@prelvu)
1st March 2019, 3:48
I would like to see him on RB again.
I always thought that he was pretty good.
As mentioned couple of times by Toro Roso Boss F.Tost
erikje
28th February 2019, 18:18
One serious and one small.
Exaggeration does not help.
anon
28th February 2019, 18:57
erikje, well, it could be said that they have both been costly – the first crash managed to do enough damage to force the team to have to change the gearbox and entire powertrain, and this accident will almost certainly force the team to have to do the same thing again. In that sense, it could be difficult for Red Bull to complete their durability testing, since now they will not have put the engine and gearbox through the full planned duty cycle that they would have wanted to.
toiago (@toiago)
28th February 2019, 19:05
That’s what Toro Rosso is there for!
Joao (@johnmilk)
28th February 2019, 22:01
Eheheheh
Ken
28th February 2019, 22:13
Between him and Max, I think there will be a lot of carbon fiber used up this year at RBR this year.
Having 2 aggressive young bucks on the same team going at each other is not ideal – remember ALO and HAM in 2007.
Should be interesting.
Robbie (@robbie)
28th February 2019, 22:43
Ken I don’t see it that way because I think their focus will be on working together to advance the team. I don’t really see them ‘going at each other’ but of course who knows right? Depends on circumstances that might suddenly arise in a race or what have you, so I guess one never knows. Overall though, I’ve been envisioning them primarily bent on advancing the Newey/Honda rather than fighting on the track, but of course, lol if one comes up on the other with a head of speed…? You’re right, should be interesting. We haven’t seen Gasly in this level of car, and we know Max is a relentless pit bull.
FERCSA (@fercsa)
28th February 2019, 22:55
Both of them hot headed.. The question is when the firework starts. #getchapopcornready
Ross
1st March 2019, 5:01
All you have to do is rewatch Baku ’18 to see how this year could pan out for RBR.
anon
1st March 2019, 10:20
@robbie, at the same time, there have been instances where we’ve seen the drivers act against the interests of the team. In the Brazilian GP last year, when the team asked Gasly to allow Hartley through so Hartley could go after one of the Force India drivers in front, Gasly spent multiple laps refusing to let Hartley through until it was too late for Hartley to catch that other driver – it is moments like that which make people question whether the drivers really are prepared to co-operate fully with each other, or whether they would put their own personal interests first to the detriment of the team.
Coanda (@ming-mong)
1st March 2019, 5:43
I wonder if he will be smiling all the way through the post crash interview like he was in the 1st test. That irked me. You just crash a car and your smiling and saying everything is going well etc.. hmmm
tony mansell
1st March 2019, 9:02
Ahh bless poppets. You ok now though?
ZUKMAN
1st March 2019, 11:12
This crash was an attempt to sabotage Max’s single day of testing. Let the Hunger games begin.