Gasly 'really sorry' for costly FP2 crash

Pierre Gasly has apologised to the Red Bull garage after he binned his RB15 into the barriers during second practice at the Hockenheimring.

After a confidence-boosting P4 at the British Grand Prix, Gasly came back down with a bump (literally) as he lost control of his car at the final corner and slammed into the barriers as a result.

Whilst Gasly emerged unscathed from the 10G impact, the left side of his car will be in need of a big patch up job overnight heading into final practice and qualifying on Saturday.

“It was quite a tricky day today,” Gasly said in Red Bull’s official practice debrief.

“We managed to get some decent laps during FP1 and the feeling with the car was good. We completed the normal tests and then in FP2, we had a couple of issues which meant we didn’t get a short run on soft tyres and that put us back in the classifications, but the feeling was still good.

“Unfortunately, towards the end of the session I lost the car exiting the final corner during a long run and hit the barrier.

“Fortunately, I wasn’t using my race engine or gearbox, but more importantly I’m really sorry for the boys in the garage and I want to apologise to them as the repairs will make for a long night.

“Looking ahead to tomorrow, the conditions are going to be completely different so we need to learn from today and analyse all the tests we have done.”

Whilst Gasly ended the day down in P15, Verstappen had a better time of it in testing conditions with a P5 finish after FP2.

He was six tenths off the pace set by Charles Leclerc, but thinks the current timesheet is not an accurate reflection of the gap between himself and the likes of Ferrari and Mercedes.

Things are heating up at the #GermanGP ??? Wrapping up Friday practice at the Hock ? https://t.co/5ktRolNHvm #F1 pic.twitter.com/xw4bBveUfd

— Aston Martin Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) July 26, 2019

“Today was ok,” Verstappen reflected.

“We haven’t quite found the perfect balance yet but we are also not too far behind. In FP2 I didn’t have a clean lap on the softest compound as I had to abort and around here it is really a one lap tyre.

“I ended up doing extra laps on the tyre and the peak of the grip was gone. We are a little bit behind Mercedes and Ferrari but with some fine-tuning it will be ok and I think we are better than the times from FP2 show.

“It’s always good to get plenty of running on a Friday, even if the conditions are going to change, as you can still get an understanding and find the right direction for the rest of the weekend.

“One thing I know for sure is that it’s very hot and I’ve been sweating a lot!”

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