Pierre Gasly stepped back in to the Scuderia Toro Rosso car today for the first time since the young driver test at the end of the 2015 season.
The young Frenchman completed a total of 78 laps around the 4.655km Circuit de Catalunya with a best time of 1:24.821, improving by nearly 3 seconds from the morning session.
Chief Race Engineer Phil Charles was a happy man after Gasly completed a successful day which was cut short by an electronics issue.
“We got most of the planned program completed with a large number of aero characterization runs in the morning and then a set-up program accomplished just after lunch.” he said.
“His runs were consistent and his feedback was concise. We were just about to ‘set him off the leash’ for some performance runs at the end of the day when a systems issue stopped the car from running. We are currently looking into it – it’s a pity we could not get to see what Pierre is capable of.”
Gasly was delighted to be handed the chance to get behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car again.
“It’s always fantastic to drive a Formula 1 car and I’m happy with today.” said Gasly. “The most important was to do a good job for the team, as well as getting plenty of mileage under my belt. In the morning we completed aero tests and in the afternoon we focused on the car set-up.
“This is my second time driving with Toro Rosso and I have to say I felt much more confident – knowing the team and the procedures better definitely helps.
“It doesn’t mean it’s less pressure on me, as you always need to deliver and do a good job, but the fact that it’s not completely new to me any more makes me enjoy the driving more. I look forward to another outing with the team hopefully in the near future.”
Daniil Kvyat will get another chance to get in some seat time ahead of Monaco as he reacclimatises himself to the team tomorrow as he takes on testing duties.
