Red Bull and AlphaTauri has confirmed Pierre Gasly for the 2021 F1 season as the Frenchman extends his stay with the team for another year.
It does not comes as a surprise that Gasly has been retained by AlphaTauri for another season in 2021 as the Frenchman’s performances in 2020 – which included his maiden F1 race win – was enough to warrant a contract extension.
While there was chorus from the fans side to push Gasly back into the senior Red Bull team but they were adamant to keep the Frenchman at AlphaTauri, which is now dubbed as a sister F1 outfit rather than being just a junior team.
With Gasly staying back, it will be his third full season with AlphaTauri (and Toro Rosso), while he did half in 2019 and handful in 2017. It also puts to rest the unwarranted speculations of him switching to Renault in place of Esteban Ocon.
“I’m extremely happy to continue with Scuderia AlphaTauri for another season,” said Gasly. “This year is going very well, and we are on track to have our most successful season in the team’s history. I feel we have a very strong relationship, we have managed to take every opportunity that’s come our way, the best one at the Italian Grand Prix.
“Winning my first Formula 1 race in Monza was a very special moment for me, and it was made extra sweet to deliver a second win in the team’s history, so I’m very proud of that. I’ll do my maximum to push the team and take all my responsibility to bring it as far forward as I can. I’m looking forward to next year’s challenge and continuing with AlphaTauri both as a premium fashion brand and a racing team, to keep performing as much as I can to achieve even more success in the future.
At the same time, AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost, added: “I’m delighted that Pierre Gasly will remain with us for the 2021 season. He has been part of the Red Bull driver pool for many years and I hope he will remain in the Red Bull family for many seasons ahead.
“Since he came back to the team last year, he consistently showed extremely good performances achieving two podiums, with a second place in Brazil in 2019 and a win at the team’s home race at this year’s Italian Grand Prix.
“Pierre has proven to be highly competitive also thanks to his great race craft, extracting the car’s potential at every race and giving valuable feedback to his engineers. He is mentally very strong, he is always motivated and when he sets a goal he gives it his all to achieve it. I’m looking forward to extending this cooperation and having a successful 2021 season together.”
While Gasly is confirmed to stay back at AlphaTauri, his teammate is yet to be sorted out with Daniil Kvyat and Yuki Tsunoda being the front-runners. But if Red Bull drops Alexander Albon from the senior team, the Thai could be in contention too.
Here’s Christian Horner on Alexander Albon and Pierre Gasly