Pierre Gasly: ​​“One of the biggest crashes of my career”

The last day of driving Pierre Gasly will unfortunately have ended with a rather violent exit from the track on the Catalan route of Barcelona.

Having completed 65 laps since the session kicked off this morning, the Frenchman lost control of his RB15 – Honda at the start of the very fast turn 9 of the Montmelo circuit.

The sanction then appeared immediate with contact with the protective barriers. Taken as a precaution to the circuit's medical center, Pierre Gasly was able to emerge straight away, with no injuries diagnosed.

« It's okay, I'm a little shaken, admitted, however, the neo-pilot Red Bull. It was undoubtedly one of the biggest crashes that I have known in my career. It's not ideal to end like this.

I made a mistake by opening a little too much at the entrance to turn 9. When I was turning, the rear wheel was on the vibrator and the car took off. I was at 230 km/h.

Even if I counter-steered, nothing could be done, I lost the car, there was a lot of damage. The team is repairing. It's not ideal but apparently they will manage to rebuild the car for tomorrow.

We will concentrate on all the tests carried out and retain the positive ones. We will have to analyze all this and work hard before Melbourne. »

A positive result despite everything

Certainly disappointed to complete his winter tests, before seeing Max Verstappen tomorrow in action for the final day, Pierre Gasly underlines the good overall work carried out on the RB15 and in particular on the engine level, the big novelty in Milton Keynes in 2019.

“Honda has made great progress since last year, highlights the Norman. We see that we have potential. We managed to string together the rounds, and we learned a lot. Overall, we're pretty happy.

Afterwards, I think that Ferrari showed that they were very fast and we still have a little work to do before we pick them up. We have not yet seen what Mercedes is capable. Hamilton still did a big ride with the mediums. I think we have a good car but we will have to work hard to find the leaders. »