One of the hallmarks of good team mates is their ability to get on when conflict arises. Many Formula One team managers have had to address this situation when adversity has struck the team, while others have had a hard job managing relationships right from the get-go. More often than not this has been when two strong egos have been signed for the team or are at the top of their game.
It could have been a disaster for the Scuderia Toro Rosso F1 Team at the end of the first qualifying session at the Azerbaijan F1 Grand Prix. Pierre Gasly just missed colliding with team mate Brendon Hartley when the latter had slowed after hitting the wall and puncturing. Gasly came across Hartley, at speed, and had to take evasive action to avoid a huge accident and ended up down the escape road, ruining his qualifying lap.
Gasly said, “It was probably the scariest moment of my career! I was sure I was going to crash into Brendon because it’s the part of the track where we’re going at 320kph. Brendon had slowed down massively and I had to change direction when I saw he was slow, but I didn’t know if he was going left or right but I managed to avoid him.
“It was a disaster of a day,” commented Hartley. I hadn’t done a lap until the point of the incident because the previous ones were interrupted by yellow flags. This lap was coming along really well and I was happy with the car, but I clipped the inside of the wall very lightly.
“At the beginning I didn’t think there was any damage so I was still pushing, then I realised going through the fast left-hander that there was a puncture. I had to slow down immediately trying to avoid hitting the wall, but Pierre was coming very quickly behind and I completely misjudged it.
“When I looked in the mirrors I moved to the left and that’s the same way he wanted to go. I made a complete mess of it. I’m really disappointed and I owe him a big apology because that was really average.”
Full credit to Gasly after initially reacting unfavourably towards Hartley on the team radio. In post-qualifying interviews he was more philosophical and genuinely honest about the whole affair.
“I’m sure he didn’t do it on purpose, that’s for sure. But he was on the line and I didn’t know if he was going to go left or going to go right. So maybe next time we need to have a bit more gap between the two cars so things like this don’t happen. It’s a shame because we could have been in Q2 easily and we’ll start really far back tomorrow.”
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