Pierre Gasly returned to testing duties with Red Bull Racing at the Bahrain International Circuit on Wednesday, and attempted to make up for the lost time the team suffered on Tuesday when Daniel Ricciardo encountered engine troubles.
The reigning GP2 Series champion performed aero tests and did some long runs in the RB13, completing 65 laps and setting the tenth fastest time, but saw his own day affected by an exhaust issue, which meant he completed less than half the amount of laps that Valtteri Bottas did for the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team.
Gasly now turns his attention to his Super Formula campaign in Japan, but admitted that it is always a great experience to test a Formula 1 car.
“It was great to be in a Formula 1 car again,” said Gasly. “It’s always really exciting, especially in the new F1 cars, which are so much quicker than last year’s.
“It was a pretty busy programme this morning mostly because of the time lost yesterday. There were a lot of aero tests and some long runs, so we achieved quite a lot this morning. Unfortunately we had a mechanical issue at the end of the morning that stopped us a bit earlier than we wanted and we missed some running time in the afternoon.
“However, apart from that it was a mega experience. It always feels amazing to drive one of these cars.”
