Breaking news
Formula 1
Gasly: "Shock" Red Bull demotion not what I had been told
Pierre Gasly says his demotion from the Red Bull Formula 1 team came as a "shock" because he was told he would keep his drive until the end of 2019.
Scott Mitchell
Edited: Mar 16, 2023, 10:20 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said immediately after the Hungarian Grand Prix, the final race before the summer break, that it was the “intention” to keep Gasly in the car for the rest of the year.
However, one week after the race Red Bull announced Alex Albon would replace Gasly as it assesses who should partner Max Verstappen in 2020.
Speaking for the first time since his demotion to Red Bull’s junior team Toro Rosso, Gasly said he was informed at “8.42am” by Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko, a few hours before the news was announced.
“I found out in the morning it was decided,” said Gasly. “Of course it was kind of a shock and [I was] disappointed because it’s not what I had been told before or after Budapest.”
He added: “The team said I was going to drive until the end of the year, and that's what I believed.”
Read Also:
- Mercedes chooses Bottas over Ocon for 2020
- Ocon to replace Hulkenberg at Renault
- Haas names three candidates to partner Magnussen in 2020
Red Bull had pledged to be patient with Gasly when it promoted him to senior team to replace Daniel Ricciardo, who switched to Renault for 2019.
Gasly said he did not know what had changed between being told he would keep his drive and being demoted, “and anyway it’s not going to change the decision right now”.
“Whether I understand it or not it’s not going to change it,” Gasly said. “I’ve not spent too much time thinking about it.
“The only thing I need to focus is on is performing in these nine races with Toro Rosso at my best.”
Gasly’s Red Bull career started with a crash in pre-season testing and he was comprehensively outperformed by Verstappen over the first 12 races of the season, scoring 63 points to Verstappen’s 181.
He scored a best finish of fourth, after Verstappen was taken out in the British Grand Prix, while the Dutchman has scored two victories and a further three podiums.
"There are things I could have done better over that first half of the season, I'm partly responsible,” said Gasly.
“I think all of us were responsible for the lack of performance and points we ended up having.”
The points discrepancy between Verstappen and Gasly is hurting Red Bull’s ambition to beat Ferrari in the constructors’ championship, which Gasly acknowledged is the team’s objective.
However, he believes things “would have gone better” had he been given more time.
“There were many things going in the right way even though we still had a few issues,” said Gasly. “Now there is no point to discuss about it and I don’t really want to talk about it because it’s over.
“I’ve had some good lessons that’s going to be useful for the rest of the season, but I need to focus on what I can change and what’s going to make me faster in the coming months.”
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Hulkenberg: Renault's Ocon choice "not only about performance"
Next article F1 teams agree to testing reduction in 2020
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Scott Mitchell
Alfa Romeo must do better in "chaotic" races - Vasseur
Formula 1
Formula 1
Alfa Romeo must do better in "chaotic" races - Vasseur
Honda: Verstappen relationship 'like a young Senna'
Formula 1
Formula 1
Honda: Verstappen relationship 'like a young Senna'
Key team personnel shouldn't be F1 boss - Ferrari
Formula 1
Formula 1
Key team personnel shouldn't be F1 boss - Ferrari
More from
Pierre Gasly
Pierre Gasly on Franco Colapinto fan pressure: “Once you deal with Helmut Marko, anything else is no pressure”
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
14 h
Pierre Gasly on Franco Colapinto fan pressure: “Once you deal with Helmut Marko, anything else is no pressure”
Alpine drivers penalised post-race, Ryo Hirakawa scores on F1 debut at Mexico GP
Formula 1
Formula 1
Mexican GP
Alpine drivers penalised post-race, Ryo Hirakawa scores on F1 debut at Mexico GP
More from
Red Bull Racing
Max Verstappen "needs to understand what happened" after "night and day" F1 comeback in Brazilian GP
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
2 h
Max Verstappen "needs to understand what happened" after "night and day" F1 comeback in Brazilian GP
‘I’ll try to win, somehow’ – Can Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen fight back for F1 Brazilian GP victory?
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
11 h
‘I’ll try to win, somehow’ – Can Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen fight back for F1 Brazilian GP victory?
Latest news
Official race results: NASCAR Cup Homestead season finale
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
22 min
Official race results: NASCAR Cup Homestead season finale
Ryan Blaney wins Homestead NASCAR Cup finale as Kyle Larson claims 2026 title
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
36 min
Ryan Blaney wins Homestead NASCAR Cup finale as Kyle Larson claims 2026 title
Winners and losers from F1's chaotic Brazilian Grand Prix
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
1 h
Winners and losers from F1's chaotic Brazilian Grand Prix
Feature
Discover prime content
How F1’s rules got to be so complex
Formula 1
By Pat Symonds
How F1’s rules got to be so complex
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe