Pierre Gasly had hoped to acclimatise himself to the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace on Friday morning but more engine-related issues restricted the Frenchman to just five laps, meaning his afternoon session was extremely busy.
The Scuderia Toro Rosso driver only set one timed lap in the morning session before his mechanics were forced to do an engine change, with the subsequent penalties meaning he will start at the back of the field on Sunday.
Gasly completed forty-four laps in the afternoon session, finishing sixteenth fastest, just ahead of team-mate Brendon Hartley, with the Frenchman hopeful the data they acquired on Friday will help find a better set-up for Saturday’s practice and Qualifying.
“A pretty good afternoon after a tough beginning of the day,” said Gasly. “This morning of course was not great for us with the engine issue, I had only one timed lap and Brendon none, so we didn’t learn much – for me about the track and for the rest of the team about the car and setup… it wasn’t ideal!
“I managed to do many laps in FP2 which was good, a short run on Softs and Supersofts, and then long runs on the second part of the session so I think it was really good.
“We finally could seize the potential of the car and work towards qualifying and the race on Sunday. At least we have many things to analyse tonight and to work and improve on for tomorrow.“
