Pierre Gasly: ​​“Many areas that we are still exploring”

His day had started in a way he clearly didn't want. Barely entered the track with his Alpha Tauri AT01, Pierre Gasly spun in turn 9, the same place where he made a mistake with the RedBull RB15.

If the Frenchman was on the attack twelve months ago, it was at reduced speed that the AT01 performed its figure of speech, undoubtedly supporting the thesis of cold tires on this Catalan morning. This slight setback will be the only one of a studious day for the Norman, author of 147 laps (2nd total), for the 5th final time.

But the main thing was elsewhere for the entire team. “The aim was to do as many laps as possible, because with pre-season testing two days shorter this year we have to try to be more efficient and cover more things, argues Gasly.

Overall we can be satisfied because we managed to complete the program we had set for the day and I immediately felt comfortable in the car. »

Also at ease in his environment, since Pierre Gasly is evolving “for the first time in his career. » two years in a row with the same people.

If the usual work to rough up the discovery of the car occupied a major place in the Frenchman's day, the latter and his team have already been able to move forward on new avenues to also aim for performance, clearly leaving room for improvement. 'improvement.

“We tested other things compared to last year, also on my side in terms of driving, to understand how to control everything, and there were some really positive results.

There are many areas we are still exploring, we still need to figure out some of them because this is a new car with new parts. I think we have found some good directions for the next few days.

This is an evolution compared to the car from last year, and we feel that there have been improvements at all levels, aero, mechanical. There are things to discover and solve. »