Pierre Gasly highlights his “fundamental work” carried out with Toro Rosso

Pay attention to the first turns of the wheels of the Toro Rosso STR13 – Honda, Pierre Gasly will have to wait until tomorrow morning before getting behind the wheel of the car 2018 from Faenza, Brendon Hartley being requisitioned for the first day of winter testing in Barcelona.

The French driver, who will compete in his first full season in F1 this year, confesses on the sidelines of the presentation of the Italian car, approaching the 2018 campaign in a different state of mind from its debut decided just before the 2017 Malaysian Grand Prix with the structure of Franz Tost.

« I don't have the same approach : I was able to prepare myself physically to the best, do the simulator days and we are going to have the test days here in Barcelona, explains Pierre Gasly. I will arrive in Melbourne with the same preparation as the other drivers in the other teams.

And we can use all this work to try to get the best out of the car for the first race, whereas when I arrived in Malaysia I had zero runs, zero experience of the Toro Rosso. This year there is more background work for understanding the car, and to maximize performance for Melbourne. »

Managing pressure

Integrated into the young pilot program Red Bull, Pierre Gasly was able to live up to the expectations of the Austrian fold, notably by winning the GP2 Series in 2016, then by showing himself to his advantage in Super Formula (vice-champion in 2017), at a time when the Norman thought maybe get into F1.

The native of Rouen (Seine-Maritime) believes he has the ability to cope with the pressure inherent to his full program in the World Championship. “Mentally I am much stronger than I was when I was younger, thanks to Red Bull and the situations I experienced. I think I handle it pretty well.

As long as you do a good job, there are no worries. The pressure has been there since I was little. In kart I had the pressure of results, because I was never sure of continuing the following season, so it was absolutely necessary to have good results. Now it's exactly the same thing. »