Eighth in the Formula 1 world championship, Pierre Gasly confirms his status acquired during his victory in the Italian Grand Prix last season, along with some strong performances in 2021 – Is this enough to consider a return to Red Bull? Helmut Marko has given his opinion on the subject.
Esteban Ocon was not the only Frenchman to perform well during the Hungarian GP. Pierre Gasly finished in a fine 5th place. The Alpha Tauri driver has indeed acquired a new status in the F1 world championship with his performances in the last 12 months.
For 2021, Gasly is eighth ahead of such renowned drivers as Daniel Riccardo and Fernando Alonso. After racing for a short spell with Red Bull Racing, he returned to the Red Bull junior team, Alpha Tauri. The question is: will Gasly return to the senior team?
Helmut Marko and Pierre Gasly
Red Bull Racing CEO Helmut Marko has been tempered with the excitement around the driver:
”We are putting a lot of effort into our AlphaTauri brand and we need a leader for the team, a very strong driver there.
“Pierre is driving at his best, that’s true, but being number one in a very good sister team is a different story to being number two to Max Verstappen in the best team.
“We are looking at his progress a lot. In the next two years we will decide if we will release him on the transfer market, when his contract ends, or if he will go back to Red Bull. ”
Marko doesn’t believe Gasly can handle the pressure of driving on the same team as Verstappen, which is why he was dropped in in the first place and not brought back. The reality is being the number 1 driver on Red Bull’s second team with no chance of going to Red Bull is a dead-end. I suspect Alpine is where he ends up, creating an all French line-up for them.
Well said, agree