Day two of the first 2019 Formula 1 pre-season test saw Pierre Gasly get his first taste of the Aston Martin Red Bull Racing RB15.
The Team's new recruit logged a solid 92 laps of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya before a late afternoon spin cut short the Team's running for the day.
"The day was positive and I was really happy to be back behind the wheel after the winter break" said Pierre. "The first feeling is good. It was important for me to get comfortable in the car and we managed to do more than 90 laps. This afternoon, I was pushing and out of Turn 10 I went on the power, upshifted to fifth and lost the rear of the car. It was quite annoying to lose the last hour of testing. Apart from that, we tested a lot of things and got a lot of good information, there is a good potential. Of course we still have a lot of work to do over the next six days of testing but for me, aside from the last bit, the first day was great."
Head of Race Engineering, Guillaume Rocquelin, added: "It happens. Prior to Pierre's spin we had been doing a lot of short runs to gather data and there is quite a reset after that. Pierre was then on a quick lap and as you'd expect he was finding the limit. He's understandably not happy but it's not a disaster. We have a bit of work on this evening but we'll be ready for tomorrow. Aside from that, Pierre had a good first day in the car. The target this morning was to get more miles on the car, to give him a good feel for it and to cycle through tyres. There were some background tests happening but it was mainly about Pierre getting comfortable. In the afternoon, we switched to data gathering over short runs and that was the focus up until late afternoon and the spin."
