Gasly backtracks on Malaysian claims

Editor

Pierre Gasly has refuted claims that he said he may be in the Toro Rosso come the Malaysian GP, saying he words were “twisted.”

According to reports it is only a matter of time before Renault announce that they have signed Carlos Sainz, who could yet join the team as early as the Malaysian GP.

Should that happen Gasly, Red Bull’s reserve driver, is being tipped to replace the Spaniard for the final five races of this season.

Gasly acknowledged that he was hopeful of such a move transpiring.

“Yeah, I know there are few things going on at the moment,” he told Motorsport.com.

“We will see in the next couple of days what will happen. For me, it will be amazing.

“It’s been my dream and I’ve been working really hard to get there.”

He added: “Malaysia will arrive quickly. Let’s see how it goes. Hopefully I can be there.”

Gasly, though, has subsequently denied saying that he believes he could be in the Toro Rosso come the Sepang race.

“Just said I was hoping to drive for STR soon mate, never mentioned Malaysia,” he wrote on Twitter. “Just twisting my words.”

This, however, isn’t the first time that Gasly has backtracked on comments of an imminent Toro Rosso drive.

Last season he gave an interview to a Spanish televisional channel claiming that he could take Daniil Kvyat’s seat for this season. That was shut down by Helmut Marko.