Formula 1: Pierre Gasly feeling the stress at Red Bull

Pierre Gasly

Gasly feeling the stress at Red Bull

Not been plain sailing so far.

Martin Macdonald

Thursday 11 April 2019 17:25

Pierre Gasly has confessed that he and the Red Bull team are feeling the stress in their commitment to make the car as competitive as possible following his crashes in testing, but ultimately played down the importance of the incidents, saying they happen to every driver.

The Frenchman’s career with the team didn’t get off to the best of starts in testing after two high-profile crashes, but he denies this has resulted in increased pressure.

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"It's not I don't think so much [about being] under pressure, but a bit stressed,” he said

"I think at this level in racing everybody [has] crashed their car - whether it's in testing, whether it's in the race.

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First points with @redbullracing.
We know we target more than that. Don’t feel confortable with our car at the moment, but I will work with the team to unlock the performance we are missing. We have a great team and we know we can do it. Focus on China. 🇨🇳 pic.twitter.com/EtrhXN5IXK
— Pierre Gasly 🇫🇷 (@PierreGASLY) April 1, 2019

"When you push these cars to the limit and with the speed we're going at, at the moment, these things happen.

"I know this wasn't the first one, it's not going to be the last one, unfortunately.

"But no, for sure [it] wasn't the smoothest testing, and then it was important to get a clean weekend, especially as I said it's mainly the tricky feeling in the car that I can't really do exactly what I want, that makes it a bit difficult for me at the moment and that's the main thing we need to focus and work on.

"But no, I just feel relaxed. Of course, I'm a really competitive guy and when I don't get the result I want, makes it annoying and it's not nice, but gives me even more anger to do well and work and push on my side to make everything better."

Gasly has been some distance off the pace of new team-mate Max Verstappen in the opening two races, particularly in qualifying, and he admits to finding his Red Bull much less comfortable than his Toro Rosso of last season.

"It's faster, but for sure at the moment I don't feel as comfortable as I was in [the] Toro Rosso,” he said of the Red Bull car.

"[In the] Toro Rosso I could feel I was doing exactly what I wanted, and even if it wasn't behaving always well, it was more predictable and I could feel that I had a bigger impact on what was happening.

"At the moment sometimes it's just quite tricky and unpredictable and I can't really do what I want inside the car - that's the main thing to work on, that I'm able to deliver what I want inside the cockpit."

If Gasly doesn’t improve his performances quickly, he could be demoted back to Toro Rosso, according to former F1 driver Jacques Villeneuve

“If Gasly continues like this, returning to Toro Rosso would not be a surprise,” Villeneuve told Sky Italia.

“In the past, many of these boys struggled to move from a small team to a better team. People underestimate it.

“You can compare it to a driver going from Formula 2 to F1. Some can adapt more easily than others.”