Pierre Gasly Tops Day 1 Of Bahrain Test

After completing 103 laps on the opening day of pre-season testing in Bahrain, Pierre Gasly topped the timesheets with a time of 1:33.902, though the Frenchman isn’t getting too carried away just yet…

Pierre Gasly

“It’s good to be finishing the day in P1. But we’re always asked at tests how we’re doing, and I think we’ve got to focus mainly on ourselves and our performance, not at the timing screens as, at the moment, it doesn’t mean much until we get to Quali next week. Of course, it’s always nice to be top of the rankings, but at the end of the day I know we’ve got some stuff to work on, so we can get more out of the car. Overall, it’s been a good day. There are lots of positives with this car but as a racing driver we always focus on the negatives, so we’ll be using the next two days of testing to really get to grips with this car and work to feel more comfortable in it. I’ll be working hard with the engineers tomorrow while Yuki takes over the driving of the car. There are new things to discover with this car every time you go out on track, so we have to make the most of every session and learn as much as we can before the first race here next week.”

Jonathan Eddolls (Chief Race Engineer)

“We gathered a lot of very useful data in Barcelona, just over a week ago, and the team has been relentlessly analysing this and producing development parts in preparation for the final test before the first race. So, we came here with a very long test list to continue to understand the characteristics of the AT03. Conditions are very different to those in Barcelona – the track was considerably hotter here, and it was generally windier, so the car was not quite as easy to drive this morning, compared to our expectations. We spent some time understanding this before getting into set-up work. We completed the usual aero rake running to start the day and then completed a series of further aero test items, before switching our focus to mechanical tests. We then used the softer compounds, including the C4 and C5, which are a little too soft for the aggressiveness of this track, but it is still good to give the driver experience of these before their first use on a race weekend. We closed the day with pitstop practice. We have gathered some very useful data from today’s running and have a lot to analyse tonight – the results of which will define the plan for Yuki, who will run tomorrow.”