Pierre Gasly in trouble? Red Bull blast disappointing French GP

Pierre Gasly

Gasly in trouble? Red Bull blast disappointing French GP

He couldn't even score a point in his home race.

Matthew Scott

Sunday 23 June 2019 19:18 Updated: 12:29

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Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was left frustrated by Pierre Gasly after the home hero endured another disappointing outing at the French Grand Prix. Gasly took the final at Paul Ricard, albeit only due to Daniel Ricciardo's penalty, while Max Verstappen came home fourth.

Gasly qualified ninth in Le Castellet, behind both McLarens and the Renault of Ricciardo.

Having got ahead of Ricciardo at the start, Gasly did well to keep him behind on soft tyres that lost life swiftly and Red Bull backed him up with a fine pit-stop to cover off Renault's undercut attempt.

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However, Gasly soon fell behind Ricciardo and also saw Nico Hulkenberg and Kimi Raikkonen get by him as they executed offset strategies. Even more galling for Gasly was his failure to make it past a limping Lando Norris for the final points place as the McLaren battled hydraulic issues.

"He did a good job in the first stint on the red tyre and then we got him track position," Horner told Sky Sports of Gasly's race.

"[It was] a fantastic stop by the boys, the fastest of the afternoon, I had it at 1.9 [seconds] stationary.

"So we got him track position to Daniel and then he just didn't get going on that harder tyre. And then lost out to the other guys as well.

"It's frustrating not to have that car in the points. I'm sure we'll have a good look at that with him."

Verstappen was unable to make his way past Charles Leclerc in a tight battle off the line and had to settle in for fourth place for the fifth time in eight races this year.

"We managed to split [the Ferraris] which was the maximum Max could do today," Horner added.

"He drove the wheels off the car, another very mature drive.

"We're just missing that sort of two or three tenths at the moment. But hopefully it's in the pipeline."