Pierre Gasly is at a crucial point in his career. His contract with Red Bull runs until 2023, which allows his employer to use him for both Red Bull Racing and AlphaTauri. But “if we can’t offer him a chance to advance, we will most likely lose him,” Red Bull motorsport consultant Helmut Marko recently said in an interview with “formel1.de”. And “we don’t want that”.
Gerhard Berger, former co-owner and team boss of the AlphaTauri predecessor Toro Rosso, also advocates giving Gasly a second chance in Red Bull’s A-Team after 2019. He is convinced that the Frenchman “gets the chance to prove himself again as long as he delivers and gets good results,” Berger told ‘ServusTV’.
AlphaTauri team boss Franz Tost “of course” understands such views. He also trusts his protégé to use a possible second chance better than the first: “Pierre Gasly has won races, Pierre Gasly is experienced, Pierre Gasly is fast, is a Red Bull pupil. So for me it’s a very logical, clear train of thought.”
Tost reveals to “formel1.de” that the big conversation in which Gasly tells him that he will leave Red Bull if there is no promotion “has not yet taken place”. And advises the 26-year-old to be generally “cautious” with such a decision.
“Alpha Tauri is a good team. We’re certainly not one of the top teams, but we’re also improving,” says Tost. “And it’s not that many seats where I would say: If you go there, you’re definitely better off.”
Tost: AlphaTauri isn’t that bad after all!
The Austrian lists: Gasly is “hardly an issue” at Ferrari, because “they have their drivers”. At Mercedes “I don’t think he’ll get a seat there. And the other teams aren’t that far away from us. You have to think twice about going somewhere where he says it’s an improvement now […] and with the team I can win the World Cup.”
Tost would prefer to keep Gasly at AlphaTauri because he “led the team technically in 2021 because Yuki was a newcomer. And he did that very well. His understanding of tires has also reached a very high level in the meantime.” Tost emphasizes: “If Pierre has a good car, he’s always able to drive up front there.”
“For me, it’s more a question of being in the right place at the right time – less a question of his ability. Pierre has shown in the past that he can win championships. He won GP2 then. And has won races in other categories. He has what it takes to be very successful.”