Pierre Gasly reveals shocking Red Bull reality: 'There was no support'

Pierre Gasly has reflected on his time at Red Bull, claiming there was "no support" to be found in a team geared almost entirely towards Max Verstappen.

The Frenchman came through the Milton Keynes-based squad's junior ranks, winning GP2 (now Formula 2) and finishing runner-up in Japanese series Super Formula en route to F1.

His short stint at the six-time F1 constructors' champion is well chronicled, as the first driver alongside Verstappen after Daniel Ricciardo left for Renault at the end of 2018. It was the start of the second seat issues that have plagued Red Bull over recent years.

But Gasly's road to F1 with the then-Christian-Horner-led team was also difficult to navigate, having been brought into its young driver programme, the expectation had been set that if he won GP2, F1 would soon follow. 

"It was so hard to take as I was told, 'If you win the GP2 championship, you are going to get a shot in Formula 1'," the one-time grand prix winner told F1 as part of its Off The Grid series.

"It was like a slam in my face. I thought, 'Okay, what do I need to do more?' I kept the mentality that I would get my shot."

Instead, the first half of his 2017 season comprised his stint in Super Formula and a weekend racing in Formula E, but then he did get his break, in Sepang and in place of Daniil Kvyat at Toro Rosso (now Racing Bulls).

"I remember I was jumping on my bed in Malaysia," he said. "I went as a reserve for Red Bull. He [Helmut Marko] called me to say, 'Get ready – this weekend, you are racing'.

"When I got the shot, I was the happiest. I remember going on the grid and knowing I'm given this chance, now it's in my hands, I have the car, the team, the people – now it's up to me, and I'm in control.

"I did four or five races in 2017, and then I started the season in 2018. In the second race, bang – P4 in Bahrain. It created straight away massive hype.

"Right after Budapest, Daniel [Ricciardo] announced he was leaving [Red Bull]. I remember arriving in Greece for my holiday, and it was like, 'Whoa, Daniel is going'.

"Red Bull had Carlos Sainz as an option, and they had me. It's between Sainz and myself. The phone rang, and Helmut told me, 'Okay, you're a Red Bull Racing driver at the start of next year' – this was six months into my first [full] season in F1."

'I wasn't really given the tools to really perform'

Just 26 grands prix into his F1 career, he had been promoted from Toro Rosso to Red Bull. Unfortunately for Gasly, it did not go to plan.

Although he consistently scored points, only falling short on two occasions, not counting his retirement from the 2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

However, it was often in the lower reaches of the top 10, with a fourth-place finish at Silverstone the best result he achieved.

After just 12 grands prix, he was demoted back to Toro Rosso, with Gasly saying "it almost felt like a relief" when rookie Alex Albon took his place alongside Verstappen.

The 29-year-old explained that there was an abject lack of support for him and that he was not set up to succeed in the seat that is now widely considered the most difficult in F1.

"I'm not going to lie, it was sad," he added. "2019, my second year in Formula 1 – there was no support from anywhere, in a very big team which is very much supporting Max [Verstappen] – for good reasons, because he's put on the results.

"But I'm starting with a fresh engineer coming from Formula E who didn't have experience in F1. So it was a strange dynamic.

"I wasn't really given the tools to really perform. I tried to fight my own way because I wanted — and at the end of the day I'm there — to perform. They were not happy, but I'm not happy, too, because I could see I couldn't show my potential."

Gasly stayed with Toro Rosso as it changed identity to AlphaTauri, winning the Italian Grand Prix in 2020 and proving himself to be one of the top midfield runners in F1, before leaving the Red Bull family for Alpine at the end of 2022.