Pierre Gasly's win in the Italian Grand Prix has given him the wings to return to Red Bull Racing, the Frenchman saying his outstanding result should not go unrewarded.
Gasly stormed to victory after Sunday's race was turned on its head by a Safety Car period that caught out race leader Lewis Hamilton and a subsequent red flag.
The AlphaTauri charger took command of the race after Hamilton was forced to undertake a costly 10-second stop/go penalty and never looked back, becoming the first French driver to win in Formula 1 since Olivier Panis at Monaco in 1996, when Gasly was just three months old!
The 25-year-old's demotion last year from Red Bull to Toro Rosso after a string of poor results could have plunged him into an abyss of doubt, but instead, Gasly picked himself up to rebuild his momentum, starting with a podium finish in Brazil last year.
While Red Bull team boss Christian Horner has dismissed an in-season swap between Gasly and Alex Albon, last weekend's triumph may prompt the Milton Keynes outfit to revisit that prospect.
"I think I’m ready but as I said, it’s not up to me to make that call," Gasly said, commenting on a potential return to Red Bull.
"The only thing I’ve done since they moved me back to Toro Rosso [AlphaTauri] has been just to focus on myself and just show what I can do.
"When I get the right tools in my hand, I’m really happy with the performance we’ve shown – and I’m not only talking about Brazil but I think generally, we’ve been pretty strong most of the time.
"We’ve had some really strong qualifyings, really strong races since."
Monza is holy ground to Red Bull's junior squad, with a young Sebastian Vettel bringing the team its first win in 2008. Gasly has now delivered its second win to the Italian crew and he hopes there is something in return.
"We’ll see what happens but I think there have been many, many strong drivers in Toro Rosso," he said. "I’m really happy to be one of the two that have managed to get a win for this team.
"Obviously I guess the strong results should be rewarded with something but we will see what happens.
"At the moment it’s not something I really want to think about. I just want to enjoy this moment, because it’s my first win in F1 and I will have time to think about this later."
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