Pierre Gasly said he felt like his car had become a "rallycross" car after the Frenchman was hit by Stoffel Vandoorne on the opening lap of the Austrian Grand Prix. The Toro Rosso driver was tagged from behind by the late-braking Belgian.
Gasly admitted he knew the contact wasn't deliberate but did comment on how much it affected his race for the next 70 laps.
“Honestly for me it was one of the toughest races I’ve ever had because after the contact in Turn 3 with Stoffel the rear suspension was bent and it took like half of floor on the rear out, so from that on I was just sliding everywhere and fighting so much with the car,” he explained to Autosport.
“I was quite lucky to go until the end because I almost went out 20 times in the race just trying to keep it on track.
“I gave everything but honestly it was more like driving rallycross than Formula 1 today, so pretty tough.”
But while Gasly has blamed Vandoorne, he reckons the McLaren driver “midjudged” the situation.
“I had Lance (Stroll) on my side and I think Lance had Hulkenberg and we were sort of four-wide, so the track wasn’t wide enough.
“I know Stoffel probably misjudged it or something like this.
“I know he didn’t do it on purpose but for sure it affected massively the rest of the race."
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