Gasly's deadline to save Red Bull career

Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko insists the team do not have plans to replace Pierre Gasly, but has outlined a timeframe for the Frenchman to up his performances.

At Red Bull’s home race in Austria, Gasly once again struggled, and finished seventh while Max Verstappen wowed the crowd with a stunning victory ahead of Charles Leclerc.

Throughout the 2019 season, there have been rumours gathering momentum that Gasly is on borrowed time with Red Bull, with Daniil Kvyat and Nico Hulkenberg mentioned as potential replacements at one time or another.

However, Marko says no such plans exist.

“Pierre works very hard within the team and that is why he is much more often in the simulator,” he said

“We also have no plans to replace him with another driver. He works with a young engineer and that doesn’t really help either.

Red Bull must be cruel to be kind and take Gasly out of F1 nowRead more

“In addition, he has lost the necessary confidence with the crashes in Barcelona. We have also seen a number of strong races from Pierre and we will work together to pull him out.”

The Austrian refused to confirm or deny that Gasly’s place was safe for the 2020 season, with a decision to be made before the end of the current campaign.

“Thinking about the 2020 line- up, we won’t do that until September or October,” he added.

After the opening nine races of the season, Gasly is sixth in the drivers’ championship - 154 points adrift of the leader, Lewis Hamilton.

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