Gasly accepts blame for heavy test crash

Red Bull's newly promoted driver Pierre Gasly has had a lucky escape after an error caused him to spin and hit the barriers. He described the accident as "one of the biggest crashes I've had". 

Gasly lost the back end of the car going into the high speed Turn 9 after he took a slightly wide line into the corner. The rear spun out and he hit the Tec-Pro barriers backwards causing heavy damage to the rear of the car.

"I'm fine, a bit shaken, I made a mistake in Turn 9 and basically lost the car. It was a pretty big crash, one of the biggest crashes I've had so far."

"It will be a long night for the mechanics, I'm sorry for them. But what is important is that Max is back in the car and we focus on the positives."

Gasly ended the day eight tenths off the fastest time set by Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari and described them as "really fast". He also said that he did not think the Red Bull was capable of matching Ferrari's time. 

The crash was Gasly's second of the pre-season tests. On his first day behind the wheel of the RB15, he hit the barriers. He admitted losing control after shifting to fifth and applying the power. 

The head of race engineering for Red Bull, Guillaume Rocquelin said after today's accident that the team were going to have a long night getting the car ready for tomorrow, but that the incident shouldn't compromise their plans. 

He added: "Prior to Pierre's off, we had a good morning. We worked on how we manage a qualifying session, which is good knowledge for the driver and it gets the pit crew back in the zone. The incident was unfortunate but these things happen. We'll deal with it and move on."