Gasly: Hartley near miss scariest moment of my career

Pierre Gasly described his heart-stopping near-miss with Toro Rosso team-mate Brendon Hartley as the scariest moment of his career. Hartley apologised to his team-mate after cruising in the middle of the track with a puncture and forcing the Frenchman to take evasive action at 200 miles-per-hour.

Only Gasly's superb reactions saved the pair from a massive shunt, but it ruined his flying lap and both went out in Q3.

Of paramount importance was the drivers' safety, with Gasly admitting he had braced himself to go airborne as he approached the rear of his team-mate.

"It was really scary, the scariest moment of my career," he said. "I didn't know if he was going left or going right.

A close call for the @ToroRosso drivers ???? #AzerbaijanGP ???????? #F1 pic.twitter.com/DUO9gjCAbq — Formula 1 (@F1) April 28, 2018

"I don't know what happened to Brendon, he slowed down massively. I was at 320kph and, honestly... he almost stopped, I tried to avoid him and I was sure I was going to crash.

"I could already see myself in the air, I don't know how I avoided it, but it was a pretty scary moment.

"Maybe if he has a puncture it doesn't help him. I am sure he didn't do it on purpose, but he was on the line, I wasn't sure if he was going to go on line or not.

"Maybe next time we need a bigger gap between [our] two cars."

Hartley immediately took to team radio to apologies, and he was similarly contrite when facing the media later.

"It was a disaster, pretty upset about that," said Hartley. "I hadn't put a lap on the board before then - both times [there were] yellow flags on my lap.

"Then I clipped the wall and through the left hander. I knew I had an issue and slowed down, I was unaware Pierre was so close behind me.

"Obviously I was going half speed, trying to figure how bad the problem was and I completely messed it up. The problem is, with the walls, you don't see them coming.

"I made a big mistake, I'm sorry for him. I owe him a big apology for getting in the way and nearly causing a huge accident.

"I'm disappointed how that went down. Not a good day."