Pre-season crashes affected Gasly’s confidence – Horner

Pierre Gasly’s confidence suffered at Red Bull because of two crashes in testing and the strain of being compared with Max Verstappen, team principal Chrisitan Horner believes.

Red Bull has recently confirmed Alexander Albon, who replaced Gasly in the team during the summer break, will continue to drive for them in 2020.

Horner explained why he felt Gasly had struggled at Red Bull. “I think that obviously for Pierre it was very tough for him coming into the start of the season off the back off two accidents in pre-season. That definitely affected his confidence.

“And of course being the team-mate to Max Verstappen is a very tough job to have, having that reference point. For Pierre, it was a difficult first half of the season for him.

“Obviously we felt that with the pressure building on him, the public pressure, the media scrutiny, it was right to remove him from that and put him into the slightly less pressured environment of Toro Rosso.”

Gasly’s form has improved since, and he has out-scored current team mate Daniil Kvyat over their seven races together this year. “Since that switch I think he has driven again exceptionally well,” said Horner.

“You can see his confidence is growing. He’s driven some very strong races and his pace is getting better and better. He looks happier in that environment, which is good to see.”

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Albon had impressed Red Bull with how quickly he had adapted to Formula 1 since making his debut for Toro Rosso this year, said Horner, making it an easy decision to keep him for next season.

“Obviously Alex has done a very good job in his first year in Formula 1,” he said. “He started the year at Toro Rosso and we then took the opportunity at the summer break to promote him into the senior team.

“The reason behind that was to have a look at him within our own environment. And since stepping into that seat he’s finished in the top six at every grand prix, sometimes having to start from the back of the grid or even the pit lane. So, he’s driven exceptionally well.

“He’s given great feedback. His pace is improving and improving, at many circuits at which he’s never been to before or countries he’s never been in, like here in Brazil this weekend. He’s earned the seat on merit.

“We’re excited about his potential for the future. It was a relatively straightforward decision to come to, to extend his relationship with the team as the partner for Max in 2020.”

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