Why was Pierre Gasly denied a second chance at Red Bull?
The 2021 grid is forming up, even more, this week. A new series of confirmations, including Pierre Gasly's extension at AlphaTauri. Why was he denied a second chance at Red Bull?
I can imagine that the latest confirmations have led to several sighs of relief. Alfa Romeo will retain Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovanizzi for a third season. The Italian must have felt some uneasiness regarding his seat when he witnessed the outpouring of support for the F2-drivers that are going to test for Alfa and Haas.
But Sauber confirmed that Alfa Romeo will remain aboard as the main sponsor and the two current drivers being retained. This will most likely lead to the scenario in which Mick Schumacher will be placed at Haas, while Schwartzman and Illot will be staying in F2.
Intended unintended confusion
Meanwhile Williams' interim boss Simon Roberts went out of his way to clear up the unintended confusion surrounding the position of George Russell. Roberts denied confirming Russell's seat last week when confronted with the rumours of Sergio Perez joining the team.
“I probably caused a bit of confusion last week, I’m sorry about that,” said Roberts to Formula1.com. “We didn’t really want to comment on the driver position but as George said, Claire made the announcement earlier this year. Nothing’s changed, and this is our driver line-up for this year and next year."
To me, it has all the signs of some intended unintended confusion from Roberts' side. A lot can happen in a week, a deal can make or break easily. If the rumours were planted by Perez's management to put pressure on Red Bull, as Russell suggested, there would be no reason for Roberts to squat it immediately instead of putting his driver under extra (mental) pressure.
READ MORE: “How Sergio Perez could really upset the 2021 grid“
The Red Bull Roulette
Speaking of Sergio Perez, he must have his eyes focussed on the situation over at Red Bull. Williams is off the table now, so unless the discussion between Gene Haas and Dmitry Mazepin isn't moving towards the Russian's direction, the Austrian team is the last option for Perez in F1.
The seats for 2021 over at Red Bull are now 50% confirmed. Max Verstappen will keep his Red Bull drive while Pierre Gasly extended his contract at AlphaTauri for another year.
Alexander Albon and Daniil Kvyat will be looking at the Red Bull Roulette with rising tension as Nico Hulkenberg, Sergio Perez and Yuki Tsunoda have been poking at their seats in some form or the other in the last weeks.
No second chance
For Pierre Gasly the week at least has brought some clarity. The Frenchman remained vocally hopeful throughout the season when asked about a return to Red Bull Racing.
Even when Helmut Marko or Christian Horner flat out said that a second stint at Red Bull was not in the cards, Gasly kept repeating he was ready if they needed him.
That goes to speak for his mental strength, but then again he already proved how strong he is by bouncing back from his demotion with some stellar drives last season. This season he has been an absolute powerhouse in the midfield, regularly outperforming his hardware and trailing Albon, his successor at Red Bull, by just one point in the championship.
His confirmation at AlphaTauri puts an end to any hope of a second chance at Red Bull. In the short term.
Difficult car
All this doesn't mean Gasly missed out on the chance of a lifetime. Not by any means. In our (Dutch) podcast I've said earlier that not being in a Red Bull is probably the best thing that happened for Gasly career.
If the past 16 months or so have made anything clear, it's that Pierre Gasly wasn't Pierre Gasly at Red Bull. He had a good rookie season at Torro Rosso before being promoted, was in trouble from the first tests at Red Bull, went back to Torro Rosso and picked up his game almost instantly.
According to Christian Horner getting back next to Verstappen would make no sense because Gasly would have the same struggle as Albon in the RB16. "I think the car is a more difficult car to drive than the AlphaTauri. We know that, that’s very clear. The car is much more rear-sensitive and I think that that that can be unnerving for drivers" said Horner to the press after the Portuguese GP.
Highs and lows
But the Briton also briefly touched on something that I have come to believe is one of the more important drivers of Gasly's revival. Horner again, in Portugal: "He’s driving very well in that environment with AlphaTauri, he’s comfortable in that car with perhaps the less pressure that goes with that environment as well, and less expectation."
Yes, there is a lot less pressure at AlphaTauri, I get that. But the fact that Gasly has been able to string together a series of good results has more to do with the fact that the highs are so much higher than at the absolute top and lows are much lower.
Simply put: at AlphaTauri, every finish in the top ten is a great day. We've heard the celebrations of 5th and 6th places in races. If he finishes just out of the top ten or has to put in a DNF for some reason after that, it doesn't feel like a punch in the gut. Imagine how a victory fuels that kind of morale.
Together with his team at AlphaTauri, Gasly has created an environment that keeps the pressure on an even level, with the morale never going down too far for too long.
“One more year”
His extension at AlphaTauri is the logical step for both parties. Red Bull recently positioned AlphaTauri as a more individual sister team as opposed to its previous 'junior team' label.
The team wants to move up the ranks and hopes to do so by keeping proven performer Gasly in his current seat. As for Gasly, this changes his status from 'Red Bull demotee' to 'senior driver' at AlphaTauri.
But the way he worded his announcement on Twitter did make me wonder. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but I found it just a bit too much emphasis on the 'one more year' part of his tweet. As if he was giving us a heads-up for 2022.
In our show, we've been speculating about Gasly ending up at Renault at some point in his career ever since he was demoted at Red Bull. He fueled the rumours himself with a congratulatory message to the French team for their third place in Germany. During Fridays press events he caused a bit of a stir by stating that he doesn’t understand why he didn’t get a promotion.
Who knows what Gasly has in mind for 2022 and onwards. Even this weekend he remains adamant that he wants to succeed at Red Bull Racing at that he “remains commited”. But leaving the Red Bull stable doesn't mean your chances for a great seat are gone. Just ask Carlos Sainz or Daniel Ricciardo.
Enjoy the return to Imola this weekend.
Again, if you have any questions, remarks, or would add something to the discussion: leave a reply! And if you like reading The @pex, feel free to share it with a relative or friend.
Cheers,
Johan
📑 The Debrief
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