Gasly must look for F1 future outside of Red Bull family - Chandhok

Sky F1 pundit Karun Chandhok believes there's no going back to Red Bull Racing for Pierre Gasly in the future, insisting the Italian GP winner should look for an F1 opportunity outside of his current family for 2022.

Gasly strong 2020 campaign with AlphaTauri came in the wake of his demotion from Red Bull Racing in the summer of 2019, when the Frenchman and promising young talent Alex Albon exchanged seats.

While Albon has disappointed this season following his failure to perform on a par with teammate Max Verstappen, Gasly put his strong head down and started from a clean slate with Red Bull's sister team.

The Frenchman comfortably outperformed and outscored teammate Daniil Kvyat in 2020, finishing ten times in the points and delivering a shock but well-deserved win at Monza.

But that outstanding achievement wasn't enough to incite Red Bull motorsport boss Helmut Marko to initiate another round-trip seat exchange between Albon and Gasly. The latter will remain with the Faenza squad next year, racing alongside new recruit Yuki Tsunoda.

"Watching Pierre win in Monza was probably my highlight of this season," Chandhok told Sky Sports F1.

"He is a lovely guy who has shown incredible mental strength after bouncing back from a very difficult 2019 where not only did his career look in tatters but he also lost his best friend in Anthoine Hubert."

• Read also: Yuki Tsunoda confirmed at AlphaTauri for 2021!

Yet Chandhok reckons that racing at AlphaTauri will remain as good as it gets for Gasly within the Red Bull family.

"While Monza was obviously a one off, Pierre has well and truly beaten Daniil Kvyat and driven some great races, often with unconventional strategies, to rebuild his reputation," added the former Grand Prix driver.

"I cannot see him getting back to the main Red Bull team, so I think he needs to use 2021 to build on the foundations of this year and launch himself into the driver market outside the Red Bull family."

Red Bull Racing is still mulling whether to retain Albon's services for next season or to replace the British-Thai racer with departed Racing Point charger - and Sakhir GP winner - Sergio Perez.

Red Bull is expected to make the final call in the next few days.

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