Honda Power Unit Issue Ends Positive Friday for Gasly at Red Bull Ring

Pierre Gasly started the weekend at the Red Bull Ring superbly with the second fastest time in first practice on Friday, but the Frenchman was forced to watch from the side-lines in the afternoon after Honda identified a potential engine problem.

The Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda driver was strong throughout the morning session as the Styrian Grand Prix weekend began, with Gasly ending second fastest behind his former Red Bull Racing team-mate Max Verstappen.

The team did not want to risk an engine failure in the afternoon so took the car apart to check through the power unit, leaving Gasly unable to participate, but the Frenchman can see some work needs to be done as team-mate Yuki Tsunoda did not have a great afternoon session.

“This morning was great, the pace and performance of the car was strong and everything went well, so it was a really positive session for the start of the weekend,” said Gasly.  “Unfortunately, the team spotted an issue on the PU and didn’t want to take any risks, so have spent the afternoon checking this.

“There were some things we wanted to try during FP2 so it’s a shame to have not been able to do that but at the end of the day, there’s nothing we can do about it and we just need to look forward to tomorrow now.

“Yuki didn’t feel as comfortable in the car this afternoon as he was in FP1, so we need to go away and analyse all the data we have ahead of tomorrow, then we can piece everything together for Qualifying.”

“I just need to put everything together step-by-step in Qualifying” – Yuki Tsunoda

Team-mate Tsunoda started the weekend with a fifth place in the first practice, but he lost some of the feeling in the car in the afternoon, particularly in the long runs, as he fell to fifteenth.

The Japanese racer says the team will look into why the feeling disappeared between morning and afternoon at the Red Bull Ring, but he is confident that he can be a factor in Qualifying on Saturday.

“I’m fairly happy with today,” said Tsunoda.  “We saw in FP1 that the short run pace of the car is definitely there, and I was able to put in some good lap times during the session.

“However, on the longer runs in FP2 I struggled quite a bit with the balance of the car, so I need to work on that tonight.”

Tsunoda says he is hoping for a dry Saturday in Austria as he has very limited experience of driving a Formula 1 car in the rain, but either way he is aiming high in the Qualifying session.

“I know there’s a chance of rain tomorrow, but I would prefer dry conditions if I’m honest,” he said.  “I don’t have a lot of experience in the wet in Formula 1 so that would make things trickier for me.

“If it’s dry, I just need to put everything together step-by-step in Qualifying and increase my confidence as I go through the session.”

Yuki Tsunoda is hoping for a dry Qualifying session on Saturday – Credit: Bryn Lennon/Getty Images