Red Bull to investigate potential 'defects' in Gasly's car

Christian Horner has suggested that Pierre Gasly’s poor result at his home French Grand Prix on Sunday may be down to issues with his RB15 rather than his personal performance, and claims the team will investigate any problems with the car.

Gasly started the race from ninth on the grid after another disappointing qualifying session, with team-mate Max Verstappen taking fourth.

After a slog of a race, the Frenchman eventually finished 11th, only to be promoted to tenth to gain one point after Daniel Ricciardi was demoted down a few places after a penalty.

His performances with Red Bull this season have led to speculation that the team could look to replace him, but on this occasion, Horner reckons it may have been the car, not the driver.

“Unfortunately, Pierre was unable to find the pace of his first stint on the hards, causing him to fall back in the marginal order,” the Red Bull team principal said.

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“Ending on P11 is frustrating (so that became P10, ed.) since you don't take any points home with you. We will take a good look at his RB15 again to see if there are any invisible defects in Pierre's car."

Horner was full of praise for the performance of Verstappen, though, who retained fourth and managed to split the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel.

“Again a great race from Max and splitting the Ferraris was, I think, the highest achievable for us,” he suggested.

“Given the heat and the tires, I think it would have been a scant race with a one-stopper. His fifth P4 this season already.”

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