Breaking news
Formula 1 Australian GP
Horner: Gasly's race "very strong" despite non-score
Red Bull Formula 1 team boss Christian Horner believes Pierre Gasly had a “very strong” first race with the team despite finishing outside of the points.
Valentin Khorounzhiy
Published: Mar 17, 2019, 10:07 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Gasly, who started the Australian Grand Prix in 17th place after Red Bull was caught out by track evolution in Q1, couldn't recover to higher than 11th in the race.
He spent most of the race stuck behind the sister Toro Rosso car of Daniil Kvyat, and was unable to get past the Russian even when running on softer, fresher tyres late on.
“Pierre Gasly drove a very strong grand prix today,” Horner insisted after the race. “So, unlucky not to get a point out of it.”
Elaborating on that when talking to Sky Sports, Horner said Gasly had been hampered by the cars up ahead running within DRS range of each other, which meant he didn't get to profit from its use.
“Unfortunately he ended up in that DRS train,” Horner said. “The Toro Rosso was very quick on the straight today, I think they're probably running a little less downforce than we are, and even with the added grip that he had from that softest tyre, unfortunately it wasn't enough to smash through the lower part of the top 10.
“I thought he drove a good race today, I thought his recovery was strong and it's a very difficult track to pass at.”
While teammate Max Verstappen did manage to pass the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel with DRS for an eventual fourth place, Gasly echoed Horner's point about the difficulty of overtaking around the Melbourne circuit.
“Starting 17th we knew to make it back into the top 10 on a track like this is difficult,” Gasly said.
“Last year there were four overtakings overall in the race, I'm not sure there were many more this year.
“I tried to give everything but unfortunately was just out of the points.
“I had some debris in the front wing, they told me, and we were in the pack with DRS, and even with DRS I could not catch in the straight the Toro Rossos.
“We saw they have really strong top speed all weekend.”
Gasly had ended practice ahead of Verstappen, but the point-less race added to his challenging start at Red Bull after he'd crashed the RB15 twice in the pre-season.
Asked by Sky whether Gasly was already under pressure in the team, Horner said: “It's still early days. There's always pressure in Formula 1 but I thought he drove a good race today, he just needs a straightforward weekend.
“He built his way into the [Australia] weekend very well, his feedback's very strong.
“We know he's got the pace, we just got to give the kid a bit of time and it'll come right for him.”
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 "Drained" Ricciardo hints at new home race approach
Next article Bottas explains "to whom it may concern" radio message
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Valentin Khorounzhiy
WTCR's April opener cancelled due to coronavirus
WTCR
WTCR
Hungaroring
WTCR's April opener cancelled due to coronavirus
Australian GP issues update on nine F1 paddock coronavirus tests
Formula 1
Formula 1
Australian GP
Australian GP issues update on nine F1 paddock coronavirus tests
Motorsport Games unveils 15 disciplines for 2020
General
General
Motorsport Games unveils 15 disciplines for 2020
More from
Pierre Gasly
Williams has better cooling vests than anyone – Alex Albon
Formula 1
Formula 1
Williams has better cooling vests than anyone – Alex Albon
‘I’m sideways all the time’ – How Alpine’s feral F1 car plagued Pierre Gasly in Singapore
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
‘I’m sideways all the time’ – How Alpine’s feral F1 car plagued Pierre Gasly in Singapore
More from
Red Bull Racing
"Just undriveable" – Isack Hadjar looking for answers after "massive" struggles in Austin practice
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
14 h
"Just undriveable" – Isack Hadjar looking for answers after "massive" struggles in Austin practice
Red Bull identifies two "key focus" areas after Max Verstappen's promising start in Austin
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
16 h
Red Bull identifies two "key focus" areas after Max Verstappen's promising start in Austin
Latest news
Kimi Antonelli delivers Austin surprise pole in tricky Mercedes: "Finally we're seeing the results"
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
38 min
Kimi Antonelli delivers Austin surprise pole in tricky Mercedes: "Finally we're seeing the results"
Why Ferrari failed to deliver on its hype in F1's United States GP qualifying
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
53 min
Why Ferrari failed to deliver on its hype in F1's United States GP qualifying
Jorge Martin planning MotoGP return at Malaysian GP
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Australian GP
1 h
Jorge Martin planning MotoGP return at Malaysian GP
Lando Norris laments "very bad job" in qualifying for F1 United States GP
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
1 h
Lando Norris laments "very bad job" in qualifying for F1 United States GP
Feature
Discover prime content
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