Gasly satisfied despite lack of driving at Suzuka: "Much better in terms of sensations"

The day was not easy at Suzuka, especially during Free Practice 2. The session was interrupted four times, either for Jack Doohan or Fernando Alonso, then for fires on the circuit. Inevitably, the running time was impacted, but some drivers were nevertheless able to learn good lessons from this first day of testing in Japan. This is particularly the case for Pierre Gasly, 9th in Free Practice 2, six tenths of a second off the benchmark set by Oscar piastri.

Although he was unable to complete the entire planned programme, the Norman highlighted a good progression between the first two sessions, after setting the 14th time in FP1. “We tried a lot of things this morning. We made a lot of adjustments during the session and between cars. Overall, we had some response and this afternoon it was much better in terms of feeling in the car, confided the French pilot on Canal+, at the end of Free Practice 2. "Of course, we would have liked to have driven a little more and gathered more information on the tires, especially on the long runs we weren't able to do, but it's the same for everyone. We'll have to try to do the best we can with what we were able to learn today."

Gasly announces that Doohan is fine

Positive signals for Alpine which, in the first two meetings of the season, had not been in the game from the first sessions. At Suzuka, the A525 seems to have regained form... at least, as far as the n°10 is concerned. The n°7, that of Jack Doohan, was destroyed during Free Practice 2: according to initial information, the Australian forgot to close his DRS at the entrance to the first corner, which would be the cause of the sudden and violent loss of his car.

Speaking to Canal+, Pierre Gasly confirmed that the DRS " closes manually » at the arrival of the first corner at Suzuka, since the drivers do not press the brake when turning. "I saw the crash like you did; it was pretty violent. The team told me he was already back in the hospital and was okay. I don't have any more information than that.", the Normandy driver simply reacted to his teammate's accident. On Saturday, Pierre Gasly will attempt to secure a second Q3 in 2025, after the one obtained in Australia. The quest for the first points of the season continues for the French driver.

ALSO READ > Japan – EL2: Four red flags spoil the session, Hadjar 3rd