Pierre Gasly admits he needs to step it up and adapt to the different Red Bull Racing car following his graduation to senior team in F1 2019.
With Daniel Ricciardo leaving Red Bull for Renault, the team were left with no choice but to promote Gasly in the senior rank alongside Max Verstappen in 2019 after only one season with Toro Rosso. It was already a big shoes to fill in beside a supreme talent.
The Frenchman has had a tough time so far. A mistake from Red Bull in qualifying meant he started Australian GP from the latter half of the grid which made it tough for him to fight back as he eventually finished outside the points position.
It continued the same in Bahrain GP with the team struggling overall as Gasly qualified only 13th but he managed to fight into the points to finish eighth and get his first points on-board for Red Bull. It still didn’t cheer up the Frenchman though.
The youngster admitted of having a tough time in the car as he believes he needs to quickly adapt to the RB15 to eke out the most from the team. “It was quite a difficult Bahrain GP and I’m still not completely comfortable with the car,” he said.
“As soon as I try to push, I struggle a lot with the rear and the traction. For sure, I need to see what I can improve to get the maximum out of the car and work with the engineers to see what we can do to make me feel more confident.
“At the moment I feel I cannot really push. I need to make an effort and adapt, because each car is different, and I will work with the team to find a set-up which fits my driving style better. Overall, I think there are also some positives from the weekend.
“After the start, the car felt better, I managed to finish inside the points, and now we just need to find the areas we can improve on. We will do the work in the factory and I’ll do anything I can to arrive stronger in China.”
Gasly’s situation is quite normal for a driver moving teams with Ricciardo equally facing difficulties in adjusting with the Renault car in the two grand prix so far. Team principal Christian Horner though was happy with the Frenchman’s efforts in Bahrain.
He feels the points result will be useful for the growing confidence. “Pierre drove a solid race to score his first points for the team, finishing eighth, and making good progress through the pack,” he said.
“He displayed his race craft with a couple of bold overtaking moves, which will be good for his confidence, but the Safety Car at the end prevented him from progressing further as he was rapidly closing in on the cars ahead.”
Check out how Red Bull junior Dan Ticktum fare in Bahrain test
