Marko: “We are starting to run out of parts”
Pierre Gasly once again made an error at the end of the second free practice session, causing tension within Red Bull's management.
We are 15 minutes away from the end of the session and the provisional standings show a major anomaly: Pierre Gasly is only in 15th position, almost a second behind his teammate Max Verstappen. But it’s at this moment that the red flag came out. The reason? Pierre Gasly went off the track at the entrance of the pit straight. The entire left side of the car is destroyed.
Naturally, the press area at the pit exit is swarmed by journalists, eager to get the first reactions from the young Frenchman. But they are left empty-handed as he walks past without a glance at the cameras and microphones, heading straight to the safety of his motorhome. A few minutes later, he passes by again in civilian clothes, still without stopping.
On the other hand, Helmut Marko, the driver director of the Red Bull program, was more inclined to speak with the press. And not to praise his driver: “You saw what happened. He lost the car. There was no problem with the car.”
Asked if he feared that this would once again cause the Normand to lose confidence, after his resurgence at Silverstone, Dr. Marko preferred to emphasize the extent of the damage to the car: “I don’t hope so. First of all, we need to see if they can repair the car. I think it should be fine, but we are starting to run out of spare parts.” It should be noted that Red Bull already had to rebuild an entire car following Sébastien Buemi’s major crash during the Pirelli tests after Silverstone (the Italian manufacturer refused to confirm if the issue stemmed from one of its tires). Even in this context, one cannot imagine that a team the size of Red Bull would be unable to repair the car. But the message is clear regarding Pierre Gasly: our patience has limits.
However, on the way to the driver briefing, driver No. 10 agreed to say a few words to the Canal+ microphone: « I started to lose the rear, I recovered it but went off on the other side. It happens when you push the car. It happens to a lot of drivers. That’s what free practice is for. The important thing is tomorrow. » It’s to be hoped that Pierre Gasly will indeed quickly straighten things out to avoid the team showing him the door this time…
From our special correspondent in Hockenheim
