Christian Horner has praised the performances of Pierre Gasly post the F1 Belgian GP as he adds that Alexander Albon is doing what is required of him.
Ever since Gasly was moved back to AlphaTauri last year after difficulties with Red Bull, the Frenchman has had a tremendous run which includes a podium in Brazil GP. His confidence was regained unlike Daniil Kvyat, who was torn apart when he was relegated.
The circumstances were different as Kvyat was the first one to be shifted this way but Gasly deserves the credit for hanging on. His performances in 2020 F1 season has been on-point with AlphaTauri, as he has 18 points to the Russian’s two so far.
On top of that, Gasly has looked determined as well, while acknowledging that he has learnt from the whole episode of his relegation. The praise from Franz Tost was natural but Dr. Helmut Marko and Red Bull F1 chief Horner has made it much more better.
Despite the praises, it doesn’t seem like Red Bull is looking for a change as they feel happy with Albon’s job so far, where he has finished all his races in points barring the two mishaps with Lewis Hamilton – where he could have had a podium, if not a race win.
“I think he’s performing well in the environment at AlphaTauri,” said Horner to media including Racefans.net, Motorsport Network, BBC, Reuters and more. “I think the car is a good car this year. I think it’s an easier car perhaps to drive than our car has been at times.
“But, I think, Alex’s performances on Sundays have been very strong. He drove another good race at Spa, his defending, his overtaking, his attacking is always strong and I think we’re going in the right direction so it’s good to see Pierre getting back up to speed, which is why he’s still on the programme.
“But we’re happy with the way things are,” summed up Horner. Throughout the 2020 F1 season so far, Albon has found good support from Red Bull and its management, where they even admitted that the car had issues for the Thai to get around it.
Whats also interesting to note is the feedback from Albon, which is pretty similar to Max Verstappen. While on the outside it wouldn’t mean much but on the inside, the team benefits having two drivers looking for similar changes on the car.
There is no doubt that Verstappen is already on a different level and matching him is big ask at the moment, which both Horner and Marko has acknowledged as well. For now, Red Bull hasn’t confirmed any of its drivers apart from the Dutchman.
It is more likely that Albon and Gasly are retained for 2021, while Kvyat may come under pressure from either Yuki Tsunoda and or Juri Vips, where the former is more likely. For the Frenchman, though, he feels confident about himself, leaving the rest to fate.
He certainly wants to be back in Red Bull but it is not in his hands as whatever he had to do, he has done it from 2019 to 2020. “I think I know exactly why it didn’t click at Red Bull,” said Gasly. “And the thing that didn’t work. I think the second part of the season last year was already very strong without talking specifically about Brazil, but we had really strong races already before that.
“I mean, Brazil was obviously the cherry on the cake and was really amazing to finish that high after everything I had to go through that way, but no, I feel that this year is even better. I think I know the team a bit more, my engineers know me a bit more. The way we work is probably a bit more efficient.
“But we are carrying this good momentum we started already from Spa last year. And yeah, I think we can still do even more. The team is pushing. I’m pushing flat out but I unfortunately I cannot reveal what didn’t work there and is working now.”
Here’s Pierre Gasly on Jack Aitken
Here’s what happened to Alex Albon
Here’s Pierre Gasly on Sergio Perez’s move
Here’s Franz Tost on Yuki Tsunoda, Christian Horner on Alex Albon
Here’s an exclusive interview with Juri Vips