Red Bull junior Pierre Gasly is all set for his maiden Grand Prix next weekend in Malaysia where the French driver replacing Daniil Kvyat.
Reports suggest that Red Bull's bosses have decided to put the Russian driver on the sidelines at Sepang in order to give Gasly a long-awaited opportunity to race in F1.
The 21-year-old, who is racing in Japan's Super Formula series this year, was eventually expected to replace Carlos Sainz at the Faenza-based outfit had the Spaniard made an early move to Renault, the team for which he will be racing in 2018.
That prospect has now been discarded following Jolyon Palmer's decision to enforce the terms of his contract with Renaut and subsequently see out the remainder of the season.
Red Bull could actually provide Gasly with two outings, in Malaysia and Japan, before recalling Kvyat for the US Grand Prix in Austin which clashes with the ultimate round of the Japanese Super Formula championship.
Kvyat has struggled to perform in the past two seasons following his demotion from Red Bull Racing to Toro Rosso, when Max Verstappen was promoted to the senior outfit.
The 23-year-old Kvyat has 71 races under his belt, having achieved his best result in China in 2016 when he finished second.
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