Gasly playing catch-up in Mexico after tough Friday

Toro Rosso Formula 1 racer Pierre Gasly has been left playing catch-up in Mexico after failing to manage a push lap during Friday's Formula 1 practice sessions after being sidelined by an engine issue for much of FP2.

Gasly stood aside for development driver Sean Gelael in FP1, and was only able to manage 10 laps in the afternoon session before being forced to return to the pits with a problem.

Having completed just two races for Toro Rosso in the STR12 car and never raced at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez before, Gasly is under no illusions of the challenge he faces through the remainder of the weekend.

"For me I didn’t push one lap," Gasly expalined. "I went out for the out lap with some engine problems so the team wanted me to push for at least one lap to discover the track as it is my first time. We didn’t have any power on the straights and then big driveability problems.

"After the first lap we did some switches to try to solve it but it didn’t change anything so we had to stop the session really early. It is quite difficult because I don’t know the track so it is hard to answer."

Gasly does have experience from Toro Rosso's simulator to rely on, but the Frenchman will also drop back five places on the grid by virtue of a penalty for an power unit part change confirmed on Friday by the stewards.

"In reality the track is a bit different [to the simulator] but today I didn’t drive in FP1 and then we didn’t do many laps in FP2, so we’ve lost three hours of practice and we have only one hour left to learn the track and to get the car ready for qualifying and the race," Gasly said.

"We also have grid penalties for the race so we know we will start far back but the main target is to have a good car on Sunday and be fast in the race to recover."