Pierre Gasly completed a day high one hundred and forty-seven laps on the final day of the first pre-season test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, and felt positive about both the STR13 and the Honda power unit post-test.
The Frenchman may have ended the day with the tenth fastest time, but he was happy that the Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda partnership has seemingly started on the front foot, with Gasly completing two hundred and twenty-nine laps between his two days in the car.
Gasly says he is looking to see how the planned developments Toro Rosso are bringing to the second test will aid their progress, but despite the disruptions of week one, it was a good start to the year.
“It was really satisfying to have done so many laps today!” said Gasly. “It’s only the second day for me at testing in the car so I was still learning many things about it and we still need to find the right directions to maximise the performance for Melbourne.
“It was really important for the team and also for myself to be able to learn so much! We’ll have to go through everything in the next couple of days before the second test, but it was a really positive day overall.
“I think the reliability of the engine is great – 147 laps is more than double a race distance and we didn’t have any issues. Hopefully we can carry on like this. I would say the first feeling with the car is positive – I’m happy with both the car and the engine.
“We should have a couple of new developments to test for next week, so it’s a process where we will try to improve the car day by day, to get ready as much as possible for the first race.”
