Gasly explains 'not ideal’ session-ending crash after coming a cropper at Degner

The Alpine driver lost control of his car at the notoriously tricky Degner Two corner, locking his front wheel and sliding off the track. 

Despite a relatively slow-speed impact, Gasly’s front wheel was ripped off when he hit the barriers. 

It brought out a red flag and with only a couple of minutes remaining in second practice, the session did not resume. 

“All good on my side, I’m feeling fine,” Gasly said afterwards. 

“Unfortunately, just locked up and tried to turn but couldn’t make the corner. 

“Not ideal but the guys are going to repair the car all fine for tomorrow and we’ll go again.” 

Analysing the incident, Sky pundit and ex-F1 driver Anthony Davidson said there is “no room for error” at the difficult Degner curve.

"He just locked up. It's quite a slow moment, he's just done so much more damage to that left front than you would first think,” Davidson explained. 

"It's as simple as that. A small lock up can cost you this. It's a part of the track you build up to and he was keen to carry a bit more speed in and push the boundaries of the braking zones.

Just that one moment you get to the point and you learn very quickly ‘oh no, that was the limit and I’ve got a front lock-up. There’s no room for error there.” 

Several drivers including Lewis Hamilton, Logan Sargeant and Zhou Guanyu all ran wide over the kerb at the same corner throughout Friday but managed to avoid crashing.