Four years on from his mid-season demotion from Red Bull Racing to Toro Rosso, Pierre Gasly is still seeking answers from Helmut Marko on a decision that he feels was “unfair” at the time.
In the summer of 2019, during F1’s summer break, Pierre Gasly faced a pivotal moment in his Formula 1 career when he was demoted from Red Bull’s sister outfit.
Gasly, who had been promoted to Red Bull Racing at the beginning of the season, had struggled to match the performances of his rapid teammate Max Verstappen during the first half of the season.
Although the Frenchman had shown promise and potential, his results fell short of the team’s expectations as defined by Marko.
His return to Faenza in a swap with Alex Albon was a bitter pill to swallow. And while he consistently demonstrated his talent and resilience in the seasons that followed before opening a new chapter in his F1 career with Alpine, Gasly still looks back on Red Bull’s decision with a feeling of injustice.
Asked on F1’s most recent Beyond the Grid podcast by host Tom Clarkson if he had ever spoken to Marko about his demotion, Gasly said: “No. I hope one day we get the chance to.
“But I know deep inside, they’re smart people. They might have their own opinions on certain things but there are clear things which were obvious. It’s the way that it was.
“It wasn’t really fair but anyway, that’s the way it was. I’ve learned as well that the sport is not always fair.
“I’ve really sort of closed the chapter when I left AlphaTauri and opened a brand-new story with Alpine and I think I’ve reached a level of experience and skills and mindfulness right now, which thanks to my previous experiences allow me to be better today than I was yesterday.”
The move certainly contributed to the narrative of his determination to overcome challenges and prove himself on the Formula 1 stage.
In hindsight however, it was another painful event that he endured on the very weekend of his return to Toro Rosso that would prove to be the most seminal moment in his life: the tragic loss of his childhood friend Anthoine Hubert in the horrendous crash that occurred at Spa in the F2 support event.
“It was a shock,” Gasly reflected. “It’s funny because I was just in my phone photo library, looking back at some pictures and I ended up seeing the pictures with Anthoine from back in the days when we were at school together and the last dinner that we had in Budapest before the summer break.
“We were actually planning to go out and at the last minute I didn’t go, I didn’t feel like going and I remember just saying bye from the sidewalk and I still see him standing there next to my friend.
“I don’t think anyone’s prepared in their life to lose a friend and a very close friend at such a young age. Sadly, it wasn’t the first very close friend that I lost. It was super, super tough to get over it.
“But following what happened in Spa, I think it also changed my vision of just approaching life in general and my relationship with the people that are important to me.
“Appreciating every single second that you get to spend with these close people. Because you never know never know when it’s going to be the last time.”
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