Gasly test-ending incident causes "a bit of a fuss" at AlphaTauri

AlphaTauri technical director Jody Egginton has revealed the team had a "bit of a fuss" following Pierre Gasly's on the final day of pre-season testing in Barcelona.

The Frenchman spun off at turn five during the morning session, damaging the car which proved irreparable, bringing to an end the team's programme in Spain and team-mate Yuki Tsunoda kicking his heels as he was unable to run in the afternoon.

Providing an insight into the incident after Gasly remained tight-lipped in his press conference, Egginton said: "In all honesty, it was just one of those things in testing.

"We were running a certain programme, cool conditions, harder tyre and a few things stack up and unfortunately, he had an off.

"It was unfortunate that we sustained quite a lot of damage. It is just one of those things, a couple of metres to the left or right, or a couple of kph slower and he would have been out a lot sooner really."

Given the new aerodynamic regulations, Egginton revealed the damage provided an additional challenge for the entire time.

He added: "It is the first time we have had to rebuild one of these cars in anger, so for the mechanics, it is a learning experience.

"We were all very familiar with the old cars and by the end of the year, we could turn them around quickly. Now, it takes a bit longer.

"It is just one of those things. In all honesty, it is within the realms of what can happen when you go testing.

"Today it was us, another day it could be somebody else. We have had two good days, today we have had a bit of a fuss. You have to take the rough with the smooth."

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