Pierre Gasly admitted he made a mistake which caused his heavy crash at turn nine during today’s test.

The Red Bull driver made heavy contact with the barrier in his RB15. Video footage indicated he touched the grass on the entry to the corner and lost control of the car as he turned in.

“I made a mistake in turn nine basically lost the car,” Gasly explained. “Really big crash. One of the biggest crashes I had.”

Gasly apologised to the team for the mistake and said he hopes they are able to get the car repaired in time for Max Verstappen to complete the final day of testing tomorrow.

“It’s a long night for the mechanics now. I’m sorry for that. What’s important is we can get Max in the car tomorrow and then we’ll focus on the positives. We managed to do a lot of testing today and we have a lot to analyse.”

Gasly, who has now competed his pre-season testing, said he’s encouraged by the performance and reliability of the Red Bull.

“I think the car, the package we have at the moment – the chassis, the engine – made a good step. The reliability was good overall. We have good performance.

“We just need to understand how to maximise the package we have so we might not be the favourite or the fastest at the moment but we’ll work out for Melbourne and try to come there with the best car we have.”

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2019 F1 season