Pierre Gasly says he’s determined to “move on” from the late crash he suffered during Friday practice at the Japanese Grand Prix.
The Alpine driver was circling the Suzuka circuit in the closing minutes of the second practice session when he carried too much speed into the second Degner corner, locked up and went straight into the barrier.
Gasly’s crash immediately brought out the red flag, bringing an end to the day’s running.
While the Frenchman walked away unharmed, Gasly has now left his Alpine crew with a substantial overnight rebuild.
“Unfortunately our day ended with a small off at Turn 9 right at the end of Free Practice 2.
“I just lost the front slightly and I could not correct it in time and that meant we slid through the gravel and into the barrier,” Gasly explained. “We will learn from it and move on.
Prior to his untimely late impact with the wall, Gasly had only posted the second slowest time, having also languished outside of the top 10 in the opening hour.
The ex-Red Bull racer repeated the words of George Russell in acknowledging tyre wear had been more excessive than expected.
“In terms of today’s performance there are a lot of things we can assess both on low and high fuel,” he reflected.
“The tyres are quite challenging and it’s something we’ll certainly aim to get on top of ready for the rest of the weekend.”
Pierre Gasly (FRA) Alpine F1 Team A523. 22.09.2023. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 17, Japanese Grand Prix, Suzuka, Japan, Practice Day.
Although team-mate Esteban Ocon also failed to classify inside the top 10, Gasly in 19th was only separated by five-tenths from Sergio Perez in ninth, setting up the prospect of a tightly contested qualifying hour.
“At this stage of the race weekend, I would say we have some work to do and I’m sure there’s more to come from us,” Gasly continued.
“It’s an extremely tight pack with one or two-tenths splitting a lot of cars so extracting every detail tomorrow matters.”
Despite Alpine struggling to extract pace from its A523 car on the first day at Suzuka, Gasly is optimistic that the Enstone squad can make a seismic leap forward overnight.
“It was a busy day in the car today and we have learned a lot out on track in both sessions,” he noted.
“We also saw some good improvements from FP1 to FP2, and we put in some competitive lap times in the afternoon session.
“It only takes three or four tenths to gain a few positions so it’s extremely close amongst a number of cars. We have some work to do overnight and hopefully we can be in a good position tomorrow to have another strong qualifying.”
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