Pierre Gasly says his F1 Hungarian GP went downhill from FP3 onward as he lost all grip in his Red Bull Racing car as pressure mounts on him.
While Christian Horner and Helmut Marko are not to change or remove Gasly from Red Bull for the remainder of the 2019 F1 season, but still Gasly has to have a breakthrough result to convince his bosses to keep him in Red Bull for 2020 or beyond.
It was evident that it will be a big step up for Gasly in Red Bull against Max Verstappen, but the Dutchman has been on a different level all-together which has made Gasly’s job all the more difficult as they sit 118 points apart in the standings.
In fact, with Ferrari struggling with their results and Red Bull only 40 points behind the Italian manufacturer, Gasly’s results have come under bigger scrutiny. The Frenchman has had history of starting slow in other championships but then picks up well.
However, F1 being a different ball-game, it has taken a lot of time for him to settle down, even though taking help from Verstappen in terms of set-up. After the highs of British GP, Gasly looked okay in German GP but late crash ruined his points chances.
Even in Hungarian GP, he dropped places at the start which set him back but gained two places to be sixth but behind McLaren’s Carlos Sainz and a lap down on Verstappen. “It was a difficult one,” said a dejected Gasly to the media after the race.
“We have to understand what went wrong because the weekend started well on Friday but from FP3 onward, it was difficult and I struggled for grip. It was the case in qualifying as well and the same issues hit us in the race. The start didn’t help us too.
“I tried to attack as much as I could but I was struggling everywhere, so we have to analyse what went wrong after Friday, where we had decent pace. For sure Max did a massive job but we just started to lose out from FP3.
“At the moment we can only sit down with the guys and try to find out what went wrong and come back stronger for Spa.” Even Horner did not mince on his words for Gasly as he mentioned strategy helped the Frenchman to get back to sixth eventually.
Even though he seems safe for now, Horner has handed a subtle warning about Gasly needing to ‘desperately’ find form as Red Bull surges ahead to get in front of Ferrari. Even they think of looking beyond, there aren’t enough Red Bull-backed drivers to fill in.
It will be interested to see what they do as Alexander Albon looks raw to get alongside Verstappen. As for Daniil Kvyat, it will be a big call to get him back in the senior team, with no one really in Toro Rosso set-up for now unless they get a Honda driver in.
Here’s how the F1 Hungarian GP panned out
Mercedes would have done same as Red Bull, Lewis Hamilton talks last 20 laps
Sergio Perez on Alexander Albon’s hit in Hungarian GP
Romain Grosjean’s issue as Kevin Magnussen/Daniel Ricciardo fight had FIA intervention
Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel joke around
Ross Brawn on Ferrari needing a race win as morale booster