Austrian Grand Prix Shows, Its Time for Red Bull to Find Alternatives for Gasly

Published 06/30/2019, 12:42 PM EDT

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There was absolute jubilation for Red Bull as Max Verstappen pulled of a last lap attack on Charles LeClerc. However, on the other side of the Red Bull garage, things were not so rosy for Pierre Gasly. The French driver has not been as quick as his teammate and has usually propped up the lower end of the top 10.

Now, Red Bull have been awfully patient with Gasly so far and have given him plenty of leeway. However, that patience is bound to run out at some point and it may spell bad news for poor Gasly.

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What is an even bigger slap in the face was Max Verstappen getting bogged down at the start and ending up behind Gasly. However, the Dutchman made short work of the other Red Bull, before the irony took its sweet time to kick in. That irony, was the fact that Verstappen ended up putting his own teammate a lap down. This race did well to expose the gross difference in pace and how far in the deep end Gasly has been thrown in.

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via Imago

Unfortunately for Red Bull, they are also shooting themselves in the foot by dismissing Daniel Ticktum. Red Bull’s lack of drivers issue was partially exposed when the time came to find someone to partner Daniil Kvyat at Toro Rosso. Brendon Hartley was let go and drivers like Sebastien Buemi and Jean-Eric Vergne were unwilling to return, with the latter fighting for the Formula E title.

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However, to solve the Gasly riddle, Red Bull may have to either perform another Max Verstappen and swap Gasly for Daniil Kvyat or Alexander Albon. Another option would be to bring back Carlos Sainz Jr from McLaren and give him a promotion. Also, there were rumours that Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg was an option, before that suggestion was quashed.

via Imago

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Written by:

Dhruv George

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.
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