Pierre Gasly made his Formula 1 debut this year, but he has revealed that an event of 2016 was more emotional.

Gasly was travelling to Silverstone for the GP2 race with his parents, when the car crashed and rolled.

"I was in the back, in the middle. My mother was sitting to my left," the Toro Rosso driver told the Dutch publication Formule 1.

"We crashed, overturned four times and the car ended 50 metres from the road, on the roof. There was blood everywhere - everywhere I saw blood. I thought my mother would die. She could not breathe and was scared to death, like me."

The 21-year-old will now start his first full F1 season in 2018, with a Honda-powered Toro Rosso.

"I gave everything to get to Formula 1. Although I knew the road is long and hard and there is only room for 20 drivers, I had no doubt," Gasly said.

The 2018 season begins with the Australian Grand Prix on March 25.