Red Bull contract with Perez disrupted Pierre Gasly

Last Tuesday, the news came out that Sergio Perez learned a few days earlier: he will remain with the Red Bull Racing team for two more seasons, until 2024.

According to Helmut Marko, motorsport advisor for Red Bull, the Mexican immediately felt extra motivation and won the Monaco Grand Prix.

But it must be assumed that this news did not please everyone. For Pierre Gasly, for example, this means that the dream of returning to the top team for a long time, if not forever, will have to be separated.

The French driver has been part of the Red Bull program since 2014, which saw him enter the Renault 3.5 series for the first time and then GP2, competed in the Japanese Super Formula in 2017 and made his Formula 1 the same year. debut with the Toro Rosso team.

Gradually he gained experience, his speed and accordingly the results grew, and in 2020 Pierre won the Italian Grand Prix.

AlphaTauri boss Franz Tost highly values ​​his driver and does not skimp on praise: “Gasly could become one of the best Formula 1 drivers in the future. If we give him a car with which he can fight for victory, he can win races.”

You can also quote Helmut Marko, who said a few months ago: “As for Gasly, he has a contract until 2023. If we can’t offer Pierre a transfer to a stronger team after completion, we will most likely lose this rider. And we want that.” we don’t.”

At the same time, Gasly himself always emphasizes that he races to compete for victories: “I do all this because I want to compete at the highest level. With this thought I wake up every morning, that’s why I train every day. That’s why I follow a diet, sleep and rest regime. Because I want to compete with the best drivers in the world.”

At the same time, many with whom Pierre has been used to fighting since karting are already driving the fastest cars: Max Verstappen has already become world champion, Charles Leclerc is fighting for the title with Ferrari, George Russell has become Mercedes driver this year, Lando Norris – the most important hope from McLaren.

However, Gasly had already played for Red Bull Racing, but could not handle the pressure that Verstappen’s team-mate was putting: he clearly lost to Max and returned to the team from Faenza after 12 races.

But since then, Pierre has become much more experienced, has built up a pretty strong reputation and finished 9th in the individual standings last season, ahead of masters like Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel. There is simply no need to talk about how much he is ahead of his partner, Yuki Tsunoda.

This year the new AlphaTauri car is not so good as to affect the results, and Gasly is only 14th so far, but this does not affect his fighting spirit.

“I feel like I’ve proven my potential and I’m ready to go to a stronger team,” he said. “I have already shown that I can perform better if I have all the necessary tools at my disposal.”

However, the new contract signed by Perez deprives Gasly of any prospects at Red Bull, and if he really wants to succeed he should probably consider switching teams. But what are his options?

Even in theory there aren’t that many, and it all depends on some unexpected shifts that could happen in the teams in the coming months. Perhaps Sebastian Vettel decides to end his career and a vacancy arises at Aston Martin, although this team is still no better than AlphaTauri, except that it has more ambitions. Or McLaren will finally lose faith in Daniel Ricciardo’s ability, although it is still too early to talk about this.

However, the saying has long been known: “Anything is possible in Formula 1.” It cannot be ruled out that there will be some surprises in the next three to five months and that new perspectives will arise for Piero Gasly.