Red Bull’s Gasly ‘caught by surprise’ in F1 testing crash

Pierre Gasly says he was “caught a bit by surprise” in his crash that cut-short his first Red Bull outing during Formula 1 pre-season testing in Barcelona. 

On his first official appearance for new team Red Bull in 2019, Gasly lost control of his RB15 when getting on the power out of Turn 10 and ended up spinning into the gravel, before making contact with the barriers. 

The incident brought out the second red flag on the day and forced the Frenchman to miss the final hour of running on Tuesday. 

“Out of Turn 10 I went on the power and shifted to fifth and just lost [the car] - it was quite annoying to lose the hour of testing today,” Gasly explained. 

“I was pushing the car to the limit and playing on the limits and went on throttle, lost the rear, and that was it. 

“It caught me a bit by surprise but there is not much more you can do when it happens.” 

Gasly had enjoyed a solid outing in Red Bull’s Honda-powered 2019 challenger prior to his crash, racking up 92 laps as he ended the day seventh in the timesheets. 

“Overall it was really positive and I was very happy to get back behind the wheel after the winter,” he added. “I think the first feeling is good. 

“We tested a lot of positive things, we still have a lot of work to do over the next few days but the first run was great.”