Pierre Gasly says he would take the chance to return to Red Bull following his breakthrough victory in last weekend’s Italian Grand Prix.
The AlphaTauri driver scored a surprise win at Monza, just over 12 months on from being dropped from Red Bull’s line-up in favour of Alexander Albon. With Albon struggling to get on terms with Max Verstappen, a return to the team for Gasly has been rumoured.Gasly said he would take the opportunity to join a front-running team again if it arose.
“I’m competitive and I’ve already said it’s the goal for every racing driver, you want to be in the fastest car possible to get the best positions you can,” he said.
“Even though I feel at the moment we are performing at a high level and really extracting everything from the AlphaTauri car my personal target is to fight for podiums on a more regular basis, and wins and championships if possible. I always try to be in the fastest car available and this will always be the target.”
He added he hasn’t spoken to Red Bull team principal Christian Horner or motorsport consultant Helmut Marko since his victory, but both had congratulated him following Sunday’s result.
“At the moment we didn’t really have time to talk about all this. Helmut congratulated me in Monza, sent me a text. Similar for Christian. They were both really happy for my success.
“What it’s going to change for the future, I didn’t really think about all this. I didn’t discuss anything with them.
“But obviously in Toro Rosso as Seb [Vettel] mentioned it to me on Monday when he called me, we’re the only two to have won with this team. He won in 2008 and went with Red Bull to win four world championships, as you know. I am really happy to have joined him in this winners club for this team.
“We will see what opportunities there will be in the future but at the moment I just want to take this time to celebrate with AlphaTauri, with this team. We still have many more races to go until the end of the year and we need to make sure we perform at a very high level and the focus is on that at the moment.”
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BasCB (@bascb)
10th September 2020, 15:22
Off course he would. Maybe he is even contractually oblidged to!
Ben Needham (@ben-n)
10th September 2020, 15:23
I wouldn’t.
If I was running Red Bull, I’d drop the unfortunate Kvyat, who is clearly not at Gasly’s level. I’d also drop Albon back to Alpha Tauri and sign either Hulkenberg or Perez to partner Verstappen as a solid, proven entity to be a second driver. This gives Gasly and Albon some actual development time, with less pressure and without being compared to Max Verstappen every weekend. The team can then see which of Gasly and Albon look like the best option and promote in a few years time. Meanwhile, the queue behind them will grow once more, including Tsunoda and the like.
Robbie (@robbie)
10th September 2020, 15:30
@ben-n As I see it there is no pressure on Albon from the aspect of having to make up RBR Constructor points for greater prize money, as their second place in the standings is set. So at a bare minimum AA will have the rest of this season to continue to work towards improvement and I think the signs are already there that he is doing so. Let’s see if they are happy with AA after the full season has run it’s course.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
10th September 2020, 15:56
Albon’s history – he can’t wait to get out of that car. He’s praying they’ll drop him to Alpha Tauri this weekend, unless he’s deluded that he’ll be able to outperform Verstappen or someday be competitive. That won’t happen – the Red Bull seat is like the Repsol Honda, a career ender. We saw Pedrosa and Lorenzo’s careers be undone by the bike and Marquez. The same is happening with Renault and Ricciardo was smart to jump out while he could – that car was going to suit Verstappen to more than 0.2 seconds a lap.
Only a driver who has nothing to lose should drive that car and that driver is Hulk at this point (or Grosjean, Magnussen, and Raikonnen) but it’s a no brainer to go with Hulk there. Perez still has something to lose.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
10th September 2020, 16:04
I just checked the Championship standings and Albon is P6 with Leclerc, Gasly, Sainz, and Ricciardo nipping at his heels. A Ferrari, an Alpha Tauri, a McLaren, and a Renault and a few of those drivers have had some bad luck which explains their lower points. The sooner he drops down to Alpha Tauri, the better. Hulk’s available so they can bring him in at the next race so he can be 100% ready for next season.
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
10th September 2020, 15:56
The man who totally sucked in Red Bull, scores a victory.
He is performing well now, like he was before RedBull.
But being in a car next to Verstappen, who probably is as nasty a teammate as Schumacher, not sure anyone can cope with that.
Maybe if Red Bull steal Bottas?
Esploratore (@esploratore)
10th September 2020, 18:08
Indeed, both perez and hulkenberg are deserving of a n. 2 red bull seat, maybe perez more so.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
10th September 2020, 15:50
If I were Gasly, I wouldn’t set foot in a Red Bull car and, doubly so, while Verstappen drives the other car.
There wasn’t a single moment that he showed that he could beat Verstappen or come close so there’s nothing to be optimistic about. It wasn’t just nerves or pressure because if it was just that, he would have broken through once.
Why would he ever leave a midfield team where he can score P1 and P2 in less than 1 season? He has already redeemed himself and will continue to shine bright. Other teams will start looking at him as a real possibility and he should just take that chance when it presents itself.
Why would he risk his career on the extremely low to non-existent chance he’ll be quicker than Verstappen?
Same for Red Bull. As suggested above by @ben-n, they should drop Albon down to Alpha Tauri and bring Hulk or Perez. They’ll score great points and they’ll have a chance to compete with Mercedes for podiums and wins more frequently.
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
10th September 2020, 15:57
Great idea. Perez would be an awesome #2
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
10th September 2020, 16:20
@jureoActually, I’m not sure it would be a good idea because Perez is pretty feisty as a driver and would not take kindly to being #2. He also doesn’t want to share the same fate as Gasly and Albon have and he has quite a bit to lose in that sense. After McLaren, he was able to restore his image and I’m not sure he would like to risk being destroyed by Max. That car is probably good for 1 driver out there and his name is Max.
On the other hand, Hulk has nothing to lose, is looking for a seat this season, and if he performs close to Verstappen, he’ll be considered a top driver. I think Hulk and Verstappen get along well which would also help Red Bull.
Of course, knowing Nico’s luck Red Bull will probably offer him the seat the day after he signs for a seat in another series:-)
JohnH (@johnrkh)
10th September 2020, 16:10
Um yeah I somehow think Gasly is not the one who’s making the decisions here. Obviously he could say no but unless he has an option to sign with another team he’s not in a strong bargaining position.
NS Biker (@rekibsn)
11th September 2020, 4:17
Maybe the better approach for Gasly is to preemptively end this discussion by publicly saying … “Why would I want to leave a Race-Winning Team that is as GREAT as these guys.??” “The car is great, the team is behind me and pressure … what pressure.?”
Adam (@rocketpanda)
10th September 2020, 16:16
In many ways at the moment he’s a big fish in a little pond, and can drag a midfield car to heroics and knows he’s got the team supporting him. If he went back to Red Bull he’d become the small fish in someone else’s pond just like last time, and it left him over half a second adrift of the big fish and looking less impressive than Albon’s managed.
I can’t imagine he’d turn down a move back to Red Bull, but I’m not sure why he thinks things would be any different the second time around. If he wants to be in a front running team I think he should be following Sainz’s career path, not Verstappen’s. There’s life outside the Red Bull stable.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
10th September 2020, 16:22
Good point about Sainz – that worked out great for him although we’ll see how competitive Ferrari is next year.
Robbie (@robbie)
10th September 2020, 16:39
@rocketpanda I think PG saying he’s ready for a top team now shows that the issue before was his confidence and as per Tost he also had to learn to trust his engineers. If he thinks he would do a lot better now as Max’s teammate, that’s great. I don’t expect they will move away from AA, but great to hear/see the signs of growth from PG nonetheless.
Ultimately, taking it to the extreme, if he is a WDC in the making then it shouldn’t matter whose team he is on as long as they are top 3, or WCC capable which is the necessary ingredient for WDC, as he is going to have to beat Max et al either way. ie. PG will have to make himself the main man on the WCC team, whichever that may be, to beat Max. Or at a minimum the main man on a top 3 team, for which he is claiming he is ready.
Bottom line for me is if he thinks he’d stand up a lot better at RBR now, that not only says a lot about how far he has come, which is great, and bodes well for RBR’s system with their junior team at nurturing drivers, but it also is an acknowledgement that it wasn’t RBR all along, it was him.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
10th September 2020, 18:16
Ofc it was him, ricciardo performed pretty well alongside verstappen and vettel at red bull, so I don’t really believe this thing that red bull hinders the number 2 driver.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
10th September 2020, 16:22
By the way, that’s a cool mask!
My Left Eye (@blik)
10th September 2020, 17:02
It’s as if PG drove through the field to take the win …………………………….
John
10th September 2020, 23:28
No he didn’t have the luxury of the Merc rocketship, but he did hold off four/five faster cars that should have beaten him.
theRealMax (@millionus)
10th September 2020, 18:15
One swallow does not make a summer I think is the saying..!