Gasly explains reason for Barcelona crash

Pierre Gasly admitted driver error was behind one of the biggest crashes of his career after a hefty shunt into the barriers at turn nine of the Circuit de Catalunya brought a premature end to Red Bull's running on the penultimate day of pre-season testing.

Gasly's final day in the RB15 before Melbourne saw him set Red Bull's fastest lap time of the fortnight so far, a 1.17.084, but also leave the car in ruin after slapping into the wall.

It was not the first time that Gasly has crashed in pre-season, having similarly taken the blame for an incident on the second day – his first at the wheel of the new car.

He apologised to Red Bull's mechanics, who will have a long night in store ensuring that Max Verstappen is able to give the car one final taste of the track for pre-season, and held his hands up for the crash.

Christian ???? "Pierre's pre-season test comes to an end in Barcelona with an unfortunate off this afternoon. These things happen and the main thing is that he is ok ???? We will be back on track tomorrow to make the most of our last day of running before Melbourne." #F1Testing pic.twitter.com/aO5a7klb1r — Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) February 28, 2019

"I'm fine, a bit shaken," Gasly said. "I made a mistake in turn nine and basically lost the car.

"It was a pretty big crash, one of the biggest crashes I've had.

"[It's going to be] a long night for the mechanics, I'm sorry for them, but the most important is we can get Max in the car tomorrow and we can focus on the positives.

"We managed to do a lot of testing today and we have a lot of things to analyse."

VIDEO: Pierre Gasly's Barcelona crash
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