It was a very difficult start to the Brazilian Grand prix for Pierre Gasly, when the new MGU-H on his Toro Rosso failed early in the opening free practice session at the Interlagos circuit.
Thankfully the mechanics did a brilliant job to get the Frenchman back out on track for the second ninety minute free practice session after a complete engine swap.
However, this put them on the back foot and they lost a lot of time in the morning where they were going to be testing mechanical and aero items, so this was then pushed over into FP2.
The other priority in FP2 was focusing on giving Pierre lots of laps with the aim of getting comfortable in the car and turning the balance to suit.
"A pretty good afternoon after a tough beginning of the day,' Gasly said. โThis 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 setupโฆ it wasn't ideal!"
"I managed to do many laps in FP2 which was good, a short run on softs and super softs, 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.โ
It wasn't the best of days for New Zealand racer Brendon Hartley either, who also suffered engine issues in FP1 that saw his mechanics working overtime in the two hours between sessions...
โA tricky start to the day and the weekendโฆ We missed FP1 because of an engine issue,โ he explained. โIn this afternoon's FP2 it took me a couple of laps to get back up to speed after driving a different car for a few weekends in a row! In the end we were able to complete plenty of laps โ I was the driver that did the most this session โ and we made some good progress. We now still have some time to find for tomorrow and that's what we will work on tonight.โ
