Tom Clarkson: “Pierre Gasly should do a Carlos Sainz”
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Pierre Gasly
Pierre Gasly was promoted to Red Bull in 2019, after Daniel Ricciardo left for Renault. His stint in the senior team was disappointing – and he was replaced by Alex Albon mid-season, and sent back to Toro Rosso. Alex Albon himself was later replaced at the end of 2020 by Sergio Perez.
Gasly has been at AlphaTauri for 3 full seasons now. The highlight of his stay came in 2020 when he won the Italian Grand Prix. This was the Red Bull junior team’s first-ever victory, and the first since Sebastian Vettel in 2008, back when the team was known as ‘Toro Rosso’. There does not seem to be much hope of a Red Bull return for Gasly now.
Unless Max Verstappen leaves the team (he is under contract till 2028) in one of the next two seasons, Gasly is stuck at AlphaTauri for the foreseeable future. Sergio Perez has recently signed a contract extension with the British team, one which will see him extend his stay at the team for 2 more seasons, till the end of the 2024 season.
Carlos Sainz was faced with a similar choice earlier in his career. The Spaniard chose to go on loan to Renault in the middle of the 2017 season, where he stayed for one more season. At the end of 2018, he ended his association with Red Bull and joined McLaren. Two seasons and 201 points later, he has now moved to Ferrari, finally in a car that can compete for victories consistently.
Also Read: “My ambitions are higher…I want more than that”: Pierre Gasly talks about his future in F1
What are the possibilities?
Gasly’s contract at AlphaTauri runs till the end of the 2023 season. He has two choices to move up in his career. Either leave and go to a bigger team or wait out the two years of Perez’s contract. Even if he does wait it out, there is no assurance that he will get the seat. In such a situation, Tom Clarkson feels that Gasly should go to McLaren – replacing Daniel Ricciardo.
Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast, Clarkson felt that Gasly should follow in Sainz’s footsteps for the betterment of his Formula 1 career. He said: “Pierre needs to do a Carlos Sainz. He needs to leave the Red Bull family to progress his Formula One career. And I think for him McLaren would be a very good shout.”
Daniel Ricciardo has not performed up to expectations since his move from Renault last season. This season, he has only scored points in one of the feature races. He has struggled to adapt to the car. His contract runs to the same duration as Gasly: till the end of the 2023 season. There have been at least some rumours of him being replaced.
Adding to Clarkson’s point, Damon Hill said: “Well he definitely can’t go up to the big team now, because it’s a lockout unless Max leaves.”
Clarkson also believes that Perez’s rise in stature and better performances this season are not helping Ricciardo. Last season, the general feeling was that both were struggling to adapt to the car. This season, Perez is much closer to his teammate, reigning world champion Max Verstappen. But Ricciardo is still quite a way behind Lando Norris.
“I don’t think Checo Perez’s performances this year have helped Daniel. I think he and Daniel had very similar seasons last year, in terms of getting used to their new teams, and getting used to their new cars. Checo has then taken a big step forward this year.”
Pierre Gasly also has only 6 points this season, much less than the 37 points he had at this juncture of the season last year. Last year, he had scored his only podium of the season in Baku. Perhaps he is due a better result in Azerbaijan.
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Also Read: Daniel Moxon envisions Pierre Gasly as a possible replacement for Lewis Hamilton after Red Bull snub
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Aniket Tripathi
(1002 Articles Published)