New Zealand Formula 1 driver Brendon Hartley has apologised to teammate Pierre Gasly after he was forced to avoid a massive collision in Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying on Sunday (NZ time).
Hartley was going slow after hitting a wall and picking up a front-left puncture in the first phase of the session when Gasly nearly hurtled into him.
The Frenchman was furious and had a few choice words to say about the incident in his car, but he toned down when asked by reporters what exactly happened.
He described the near-miss with Toro Rosso team-mate as the "scariest moment" of his career.
"I was doing around 320km/h, and I saw he was almost stopped. So I tried to avoid him, but I was sure I was going to crash," he said.
"I could already see myself in the air. I don't know how I avoided it, but it was a pretty scary moment.
"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."
Hartley accepted full responsibility for the incident.
"I clipped the wall, and initially I didn't think I had a problem, I was still pushing," he told Sky Sports F1.
"Then through the very fast left-hander, I realised I had some big issue, so I slowed down immediately trying to understand.
"I was unaware Pierre was so close behind me. When I looked in my mirrors, I tried to go the same way as him.
"Obviously I owe him a big apology for getting in the way like that and almost causing a big accident. I'm disappointed how that went down. Not a good day.
"It happened very quickly. I should have been more aware to get out of the way, so it's my fault."
Hartley will start the race on Monday morning (NZ time) in 19th.
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