Pierre Gasly had ‘no support’ as ‘sad’ Red Bull demotion recalled

Pierre Gasly claims that he had “no support” at Red Bull and was not “given the tools to perform” in his half-season stint with the team.

Gasly was the first driver to fall in what has become a long line of teammates to struggle up against Max Verstappen at Red Bull. Gasly claims he “couldn’t show” his “potential” in a team which was “very much supporting” Verstappen, albeit with good reason.

Pierre Gasly: Red Bull ‘were not happy, but I’m not happy too’

Gasly impressed on the junior scene as part of the Red Bull stable. He won the GP2 title in 2016, and finished runner-up in Super Formula the following year.

By that point, he was making his Formula 1 debut with Red Bull’s junior team – then known as Toro Rosso – at the 2017 Malaysian Grand Prix.

After a season and a bit with the team, Gasly got the nod to replace Daniel Ricciardo at Red Bull. Ricciardo had made the shock decision to leave for a 2019 Renault seat.

“Right after Budapest, Daniel announced he was leaving,” Gasly recalled via Off The Grid. “I remember arriving in Greece for my holiday, and it was like, ‘Whoa, Daniel is going’.

“Red Bull had Carlos Sainz as an option and they had me. It’s between Sainz and myself. The phone rang and Helmut [Marko] told me: ‘Okay, you’re a Red Bull Racing driver at the start of next year’ – this was six months into my first [full] season in F1.”

Sadly, Gasly was in that seat only until the summer break. Having struggled to shine compared to Verstappen – registering a best result of fourth at Silverstone – Gasly was sent back to Toro Rosso.

His Red Bull Racing experience is one which stings for Gasly.

“I’m not going to lie, it was sad,” he said.

“2019, my second year in Formula 1 – there was no support from anywhere, in a very big team which is very much supporting Max – for good reasons, because he’s put on the results.

“But I’m starting with a fresh engineer coming from Formula E who didn’t have experience in F1. So it was a strange dynamic. I wasn’t really given the tools to really perform.

“I tried to fight my own way because I wanted, and at the end of the day I’m there to, perform. They were not happy, but I’m not happy too because I could see I couldn’t show my potential.”

More on Red Bull from PlanetF1.com

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Hit or miss? Rating Red Bull’s previous in-season driver swaps

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Gasly re-built his career impressively at the Red Bull second team, which included taking his maiden grand prix win in Monza, 2020.

No pathway emerged for a Red Bull Racing return, so Gasly left the fold to join Alpine in 2023, where he has twice made the podium.

A new era looms for Alpine in F1 2026. No longer running a Renault engine, Alpine becomes a Mercedes customer.

The Mercedes engine is a popular pick to start out strong as both the chassis and engine regulations undergo widespread changes.

Alpine ended 2025 rock bottom of the Constructors’ Championship, but Gasly is optimistic of a vast change in fortunes as the new rules take hold for F1 2026.

“I’m very optimistic on the car we are putting together,” Gasly confirmed to PlanetF1.com and other accredited media. “Chassis side, engine wise, I think everything is looking good.

“We are hitting all our targets, so very excited for ’26.”

Additional reporting by Mat Coch and Thomas Maher

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