Pierre Gasly Exposes Red Bull’s Max Verstappen Bias and Asserts He Didn’t Get “Support from Anywhere” in 2019

Pierre Gasly recalled his struggling F1 days with Red Bull back in 2019 when he was paired up with Max Verstappen.

Pierre Gasly Exposes Red Bull’s Max Verstappen Bias and Asserts He Didn’t Get “Support from Anywhere” in 2019

Pierre Gasly and Max Verstappen (via Red Bull)

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Max Verstappen has managed to score impressive results despite the performance struggles faced by Red Bull in recent years. The Dutchman emerged as the team’s leading scorer, scoring 421 points out of a total of 451 in 2025.

For years, Red Bull has been accused of favoring Verstappen heavily and developing the challenger according to his liking. As such, the four-time champion’s ex-teammate, Pierre Gasly, has recalled his struggling days with Milton Keynes.

Pierre Gasly was one of the many drivers who couldn’t live up to the expectations set by ‘career killer‘ Max Verstappen back in 2019. In his sophomore year, Gasly was promoted from Toro Rosso (now Racing Bulls) to Red Bull, pairing up with the Dutchman. However, the Frenchman folded under pressure and was replaced mid-season with Alex Albon ahead of the 2019 Belgian GP.

Pierre Gasly recalled the struggling days back in 2019 and pointed out that it was a sad chapter in his life. The 29-year-old pointed out that in just his second year in Formula 1, he had no support from anywhere when he was struggling against Max Verstappen. Gasly boldly claimed that Red Bull was supporting Verstappen, and rightly so, as he achieved the best results possible for the team.

I’m not going to lie, it was sad, 2019, my second year in Formula 1 – there was no support from anywhere, in a very big team which is very much supporting Max [Verstappen] – for good reasons, because he’s put on the results.

Pierre Gasly said via Formula1.com.

In the 2019 season at Red Bull, Pierre Gasly was set up with Mike Lugg as his race engineer, who did not have much experience in Formula 1 after joining from Formula E. As such, Gasly labelled the dynamic as ‘strange’.

The Frenchman still gave it his best to fight the struggles and start performing up to the mark set by Max Verstappen. However, the team wasn’t happy with his performance, and he could not show his full potential to the team before being demoted back to Toro Rosso again.

I’m starting with a fresh engineer coming from Formula E who didn’t have experience in F1. So it was a strange dynamic. I wasn’t really given the tools to really perform. I tried to fight my own way because I wanted, and at the end of the day I’m there to perform. They were not happy, but I’m not happy too because I could see I couldn’t show my potential.

Pierre Gasly added.

Pierre Gasly reveals Red Bull’s ‘negative energy’ with Max Verstappen

Ever since Max Verstappen joined Red Bull, he has only been beaten by Daniel Ricciardo, that too during the former’s rookie years. Following Ricciardo’s exit from the team at the end of the 2018 season, Verstappen became an indomitable force and hasn’t been beaten by a teammate since then. Following Pierre Gasly’s failed stint with Milton Keynes, he revealed his dissatisfaction with the negative energy in the team.

Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly as Red Bull teammates in 2019 (via Red Bull)
Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly as Red Bull teammates in 2019 (via Red Bull)

Pierre Gasly shockingly claimed that being demoted from Red Bull with Max Verstappen almost felt like a relief to him. The Frenchman recalled that there wasn’t a nice energy within the team while he was just trying his best to perform well. Gasly faced a lot of negativity from all around, while he just wanted to drive for the team and prove his racing skills to the grid.

It almost felt like a relief. It’s not a nice energy. I’m there to do my thing and try and give my best but it’s a lot of negativity. I go through that. I just want to drive.

Pierre Gasly noted.

Certainly, following his Red Bull failure, Pierre Gasly took some time to regain his lost form. However, he found a good rhythm with Toro Rosso and achieved his only career win with AlphaTauri (formerly Toro Rosso) in 2020. Now, he is racing at Alpine and beating his teammate Franco Colapinto in more ways than one. Gasly definitely has a lot of potential and can achieve even better results if provided with a good challenger.

Read More: Max Verstappen Spill the Beans on His “Love Hate Relationship” with 2025 Red Bull Challenger