During the first half of the 2019 championship, Pierre Gasly had crowned the dream of promotion in Red Bull after two seasons spent at the wheel of the Toro Rosso. However, the unsatisfactory results of the Frenchman – who never went beyond the 4th place conquered at Silverstone – had decreed the premature end of his experience in Milton Keynes, returning to Faenza starting from the Belgian GP that year.
Yet, despite the low blow of relegation in that team then renamed AlphaTauri, Gasly found the right motivation to demonstrate his talent with results. In the space of two and a half years, the transalpine took three podiums, among which the sensational victory obtained at 2020 Italian GP.
A success, that of Monza, which seemed to have opened the doors to a possible return to Red Bull, then failed following the signing of Sergio Perez in the Austrian team, with the Mexican further confirmed also for the 2022 championship, a season that will see Gasly again engaged at the wheel of the AlphaTauri.
In this way, despite the many rumors that had chased each other in the paddock, the number 10 will therefore not have the opportunity to occupy the seat of the “big sister” Red Bull even in 2022. However, according to the AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost, the level of driving achieved by Gasly would also be able to put pressure on Max Verstappen, currently engaged in this year’s title fight with Lewis Hamilton.
The team principal of the house reiterated this concept to the microphones of Sport1, despite fearing the differences between the performance of his Red Bull compared to that of Verstappen: “Gasly might get close to Max – commented Tost – but the latter is the technical reference point within the team. This means that he conducts the development of the car according to his own criteria. At that point, the second driver would have difficulty adapting to his car. I don’t want to go into specifics, but it has a unique feeling for how it gets the most from the braking point in the corners and then to the apex. There are other drivers who don’t get along very well with a car built for Max – he added – also because they have one different driving style“.
In conclusion, the Austrian manager finally underlined the mood of the French driver inside the AlphaTauri, despite not having hidden a certain regret for not having made the transition to a more competitive team such as Red Bull: “Gasly feels at home with us – he concluded – and we want to make every wish come true. I talked to him for a long time, he is young and has a lot of time in front of him, and that’s okay ”.