Pierre Gasly says he did not expect Toro Rosso to fit wet tyres to his car when he stopped during the rain period at the German Grand Prix.
Gasly was the only driver to stop for wet tyres with only a handful of other drivers swapping slicks for intermediates. Staying on slicks ultimately proved to be the way to go with Gasly and many others forced to stop again for dry tyres.
Reflecting on the strategy call, Gasly said: “At that time they asked for my opinion and I told them that the rain was still pretty light and they asked me to pit but I didn’t really expect them to put the wets and then they put them on and I was like ‘Ok let’s try’ but of course you don’t have this information in the car.
“I was thinking it will probably work out but then I did three corners and I was like either it comes now and we have a chance or we are dead. Stayed out for three laps and the tyres were completely overheating, it was impossible. I could not even feel how slippery it was out there with the wets on the dry. It was just sliding everywhere. That’s how it is but pretty tough starting last.
“We were not really in a good position at the time so they were like the gain if it works would have been much bigger than just trying to stick on the same strategy than the others. It was a pretty big gamble with a pretty low chance but when you are outside of the points it doesn’t matter. That’s why we tried it, hoping for more rain and to score big points but it didn’t work.
Since finishing fourth in Bahrain back in April, Gasly has finished in the points on just one occasion. The Frenchman is more optimistic the Budapest circuit which hosts this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix will be better suited to the Toro Rosso package.
“Not in qualifying but we knew we would struggle. I think in Budapest we will have more chances but still, at the moment, clearly the performance is not where we all want it to be and the car is more or less the same as it was at the beginning of the year. Just need to understand how to make the upgrades work better. This weekend was pretty difficult with both cars out in Q1, it just shows the performance is not so great at the moment.”