Gasly: ​​“Gaining 2 or 3 tenths could make a big difference”

Pierre Gasly was able to discover the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne this Friday during the first tests for the Australian GP. The French rookie of the 2018 season appreciated the nature of the track on which he was able to get his bearings.

“This track is really good, the layout is very technical and the turns are very fast,” noted the 2016 GP2 Series champion.

The team Toro Rosso nevertheless encountered some problems during this first day of testing in Melbourne, the STR13 of Brendon Hartley and Pierre Gasly finishing at the gates of the Top 15 around two seconds behind the best time achieved by Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes).

“FP1 was good but it was more complicated in FP2 because we encountered some problems which prevented us from being more efficient. We expect it to be equally difficult tomorrow, recognized the Frenchman. We will have to put everything together, especially since the gaps seem very tight between the Williams, the Force India, the Renault and McLaren who still seem a little faster than us. The objective is to gain two or three tenths because that could make a big difference. »

Brendon Hartley was mainly behind in the morning, the New Zealander only being able to cover 16 laps before making up some of his deficit in the second session.

“Tyre management will be one of the hot topics for all teams, but we have been able to collect data on the short and long runs. It looks like we're in the middle of the pack, but we still need to improve for qualifying.", confirmed the reigning winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.