Gasly's Red Bull hopes shattered as it "wouldn't make sense" to swap with Albon - Horner

Pierre Gasly's hopes of a return to Red Bull for next season appear to have been shattered by team principal Christian Horner.

Despite Gasly's outstanding form since he was demoted from Red Bull to Toro Rosso last season, culminating in his stunning Italian Grand Prix win at Monza on Sunday, Horner has again insisted his team is putting its faith in Alex Albon.

Horner has recognised that issues with this season's car, the RB16, have undermined Albon's performances, and he sees no reason to swap his drivers again after initially doing so last summer.

"Pierre has done a fantastic job," Horner said. "Since taking the step back into what was Toro Rosso, now AlphaTauri, he's found his confidence, he's driving incredibly well.

"AlphaTauri is doing a great job with him, and it's good to see that's working out for him.

"I think as far as Red Bull Racing's seats are confirmed, we're focused on Alex Albon. We want to try and give him the best opportunity to retain that seat.

"We've got some issues that we're working on with the car, and it wouldn't make sense to switch the drivers back."

Horner then stated that "AlphaTauri is now a sister team rather than a junior team", suggesting that any move could no longer be seen as promotion or demotion.

"Franz [Tost] is happy, I believe, with Pierre," added Horner. "The final decision will be made later in the year, but there's no push from our side to reverse the situation.

"We want to address some of the issues we have with RB16, which I think we are starting to understand and get on top of, and then go from there."

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