Pierre Gasly admits to sad animal death at Imola

Pierre Gasly has admitted he unfortunately hit a rabbit during first practice for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, on an otherwise good day for the Frenchman.

During FP1, Gasly was approaching the Variante Alta chicane, when the poor rabbit ran across the track and hit the Alpine, with Gasly unable to avoid the collision. 

The rabbit sadly died in the collision, with Gasly explaining how he could not initially judge what the object he sighted was. 

"Very sadly, I could not tell [what it was] and it turned out it was a big rabbit just jumping across the track," Gasly explained. 

"I could not avoid it, so I had quite a big impact on the front wing, and unfortunately, that was it for the rabbit, which broke the front wing. It was not ideal, but it was not the session we wanted, and it is quite unfortunate, as we always try to look after our parts.

"So when such things happen, it is not great, but it was a very, very good Friday. 

"From the first lap, the car was in a much better place than Miami, and I'm glad we managed to answer some of the question marks we had. 

"The car reacts the way I want, and I'm really able to be at the limit and push at the maximum, so it is a nice feeling, the performance is there. 

"We have seen from Friday to Saturday, others usually keep more in their pocket, but it is quite fair to say it's probably been the best Friday so far this year."

WARNING. The image of Gasly approaching the rabbit is immediately below.