Scuderia Toro Rosso rookie Pierre Gasly labeled the opening day of his second Grand Prix weekend as boring after rain storms curtailed the track time at Suzuka ahead of the 2017 Japanese Grand Prix.
The Frenchman completed a total of eighteen laps, four more than his team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr., to finish Free Practice One in eighteenth place, with only the two Sauber’s behind him.
“Not the most exciting day in terms of running, I must admit…” said Gasly. “Having said that, it was still good to be back here in Suzuka and be able to drive during this morning’s Free Practice One.”
With a lacklustre morning completed the afternoon saw the track action limited due to the heavy rain, a total of only five cars setting times during Free Practice Two.
“We didn’t do many laps in total – we didn’t even drive out of the garage in this afternoon’s Free Practice Two because of the weather conditions! – but we got some good data and we now have some work for tomorrow in order to improve our performance.
While track time was limited, Gasly did note he was more comfortable driving the STR12 after modifying his seat.
“Another positive is that the seat now feels much better than in Malaysia, I’m happy about this and now we just need to find a bit more pace. We have one more practice session left to get ready for qualifying and I think it will be a pretty busy one! I’m now really looking forward to tomorrow.”
