Gasly gets Silverstone chance to impress Red Bull

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Red Bull will run Pierre Gasly on both days of the Silverstone in-season test, with the Frenchman seeking to earn a seat at Toro Rosso in 2017.

Carlos Sainz was confirmed as a Toro Rosso driver for next season ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix, with Red Bull taking up an option on the Spaniard. Daniil Kvyat is currently his team-mate having been swapped with Max Verstappen at the senior team, but team principal Christian Horner said he expects Kvyat to remain as part of an unchanged line-up because “there’s not an obvious candidate knocking on the door at the moment that would warrant that seat.”

Despite those comments, Gasly - who has failed to win a race for more than 1000 days after spinning out of the lead of the GP2 feature race in Austria - will get a chance to test for Red Bull in Silverstone following the British Grand Prix.

“Gasly [on both days] because we used our race drivers in Barcelona,” Horner confirmed.

Asked if it is a final audition for Gasly to try and secure a Toro Rosso seat, Horner replied: “He’s under contract with options for multiple years.

“Of course any time you get an opportunity to drive a Formula One car you have to grab it with both hands. So he’s got an important job to fulfil at the test next week.”

Gasly tested for Toro Rosso during the Barcelona in-season test earlier this year, and currently sits eighth in the GP2 standings.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.