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The Belgian Grand Prix usually comes at a fun time for Formula 1 driver market gossip and while that’s no exception this year, there is one driver the market seems to have forgotten.
Given his performances over the last 18 months it is odd that Pierre Gasly is such a nothing player in the speculation. Especially as the entity he is contracted to, Red Bull, still hasn’t emphatically moved on from dumping him two years ago… coincidentally, before the Belgian Grand Prix.
A lot has changed for Gasly in those two years, as he’s become a race winner and established himself as one of the form drivers in F1, but also nothing has changed. He is still at the sister team, still has no route back into Red Bull Racing – especially in light of Sergio Perez’s 2022 extension – and still has no clear alternative should he wish to cut ties with his long-time backer.
In an F1 context he is merely existing – even though it’s at a very high level. He is a driver in great form but with no command of what happens in the driver market.
By the start of next season Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren, Alpine and Aston Martin may all have had new drivers since Gasly returned to Red Bull’s sister team. It is not announced yet, but all signs point to Gasly staying exactly where he is.
“We’ve learned that you should never be too sure of what happens,” Gasly says.
“But I think we are in a happy place since I came back in the team in 2019, we’ve had three podiums together and amazing results. And just the mentality, the philosophy, the dynamic inside the team is great. That’s also my role as a leader to try to push them always forward.
“We can see it now, we’re fighting for fifth in the championship against other teams, like Aston Martin and Alpine. There’s a great dynamic, and that’s what everybody enjoys, and appreciates. And the results are following as well.
“It’s great and I have a very good relationship with Franz [Tost, team principal], we are always very honest whether it’s on the sporting side but also personal side. So, I’m really enjoying the relationship we build together.
“Let’s see what happens in the future. But I don’t think we should see any big surprises.”
Gasly sees the positives of being at AlphaTauri but truthfully he has no other option.
Red Bull isn’t going to take him back into the senior team, having decided that his form at AlphaTauri is specific to that environment and he has some kind of underlying limitation that makes him not worth returning to.
That leaves him relying on AlphaTauri, a team firmly placed in F1’s midfield albeit with bigger ambitions and with a decent trajectory since Gasly rejoined in mid-2019.
AlphaTauri loves Gasly and he loves the team. It’s a great fit that gets the best out of both parties. But will AlphaTauri satisfy Gasly’s desire to be a regular race winner? Probably not. And does AlphaTauri, with somewhere between the fourth and sixth-fastest car in F1, match Gasly’s place in the driver pecking order on 2020/2021 form? Probably not.
While it might be unfair to say he’s stuck, he’s certainly in a holding pattern at AlphaTauri, which is basically slap-bang in the middle of the F1 order. Anywhere he can probably crowbar his way into is going to be a step down. And he’s always going to be behind a few other drivers in the queue for the teams ahead.
All Gasly can do is keep trying to perform at his recent level, and improve where he can, to position himself strongly for when something does change – whether that’s a seat opening up at another team, a new team or manufacturer joining F1, or even (in the unlikeliest scenario) if Red Bull decides Gasly is worth giving another chance to after all, which would now have to be in 2023 at the earliest.
“They obviously saw my results in the last two years,” he says. “And I think the opportunity is about the right timing and whether they feel they need to change on their side with Sergio and Max.
“They seem happy with the balance between Sergio and Max.
“I score points, I’ve had great results, probably better results than I had when they gave me the chance… So we’ll see what they decide.
“But I’m focused on my job and performing at the best I can in the car that I have.”
And that’s probably all Gasly will be doing for a little while. As a Red Bull driver he will not be picked up by another team. As a Red Bull reject he is probably damaged goods in the eyes of F1’s biggest teams. And there’s an obvious barrier to achieving more with Red Bull itself.
There is recent precedent for a driver with no obvious future at Red Bull escaping the programme and carving out a better path for themselves – Carlos Sainz.
But Gasly has neither the opportunity (Alpine maybe looked a reasonable alternative but that team has sided with Esteban Ocon) nor, to be honest, the ability to navigate the politics of that kind of move the way Sainz did.
Hence Gasly is the driver the market kind of forgot. But while the loss of career momentum could be a cloudy prospect, Gasly still boasts a rather sunny disposition. AlphaTauri might not be the best team in F1 or the best chance for Gasly to achieve what he wants to in his career. But there’s a very real chance it’s the best team in F1 for him, the best chance for him to be the best driver he can be.
He talks so enthusiastically about being a team leader and outside of AlphaTauri that kind of role doesn’t seem forthcoming. Gasly does love the part he has to play where he is presently and speaks passionately about having “the trust and the belief” of the team and trying to improve his feedback so he is guiding AlphaTauri as much as possible.
“It’s not only about driving the car they give me, it’s how do I make sure that they give me a better car every single time I go on track, week after week,” he says.
“It’s a bit different process, it takes a bit more energy or a bit more thinking than when you come as a rookie and you’re trying to learn how to work in the team and how to maximise your performance with a car.
“This is something that is automatic now, I guess, after some years with them. But I’m trying to push them in all areas to improve the overall package. That is something I do enjoy and I enjoy the responsibility as well.”
This is the upside to Gasly’s situation, that it hasn’t left him in the lurch. Far from it. He has a place on the grid at a team he enjoys driving for, and an opportunity to continue to impress.
The slightly odd element is that in the form of his life he’s ended up a bystander in the driver market, unable to make things happen himself, at a time where there are no major moves afoot to shake things up for him either.
There are worse fates in F1 but the driver market has moved past Pierre Gasly. At least for now.
