Although the driver carousel in Formula 1 is turning properly after Sebastian Vettel’s resignation, according to Pierre Gasly, leaving AlphaTauri and thus the Red Bull family at the end of the 2022 season is not an option.
“I have a contract,” recalls Gasly, who is tied to Red Bull until the end of 2023 and has already been confirmed by AlphaTauri for the coming year. And the Frenchman emphasizes that he definitely wants to fulfill his contract.
Helmut Marko recently confirmed in an exclusive interview with “Motosport-Total.com” that Gasly would probably be given the go-ahead for a change. But the 26-year-old himself is currently not interested in saying goodbye.
He emphasizes that without Red Bull he would never have made it into Formula 1 “100 percent”. “I didn’t have the money. We all know it’s an expensive sport. And if you don’t have support, you don’t get ahead in the sport,” Gasly said.
Therefore, not fulfilling his contract with Red Bull is not an option for him. “Next year we’ll be together for ten years,” explains Gasly, emphasizing that he had a “very successful time and partnership” with the Bulls.
Gasly looks back on “pure success”.
“It was eight and a half years of pure success,” he says proudly. Among other things, Gasly became champion in the GP2 series with the support of Red Bull in 2016, and a year later he became runner-up in the Japanese Super Formula.
“There was only six months when things didn’t go the way we wanted,” explains Gasly. What is meant is his six months at Red Bull Racing in Formula 1 in the 2019 season, during which he saw no country alongside Max Verstappen.
During the summer break, after only twelve races, he was replaced by Alexander Albon and sent back to the Toro Rosso team. But his gratitude to Red Bull was not diminished.
“I could never have continued without them,” Gasly recalls of his early years in motorsport. Even if he wants to remain loyal to Red Bull for at least a year, it is unclear how his career will continue after that.
After the 2023 season, his current Red Bull contract expires.