F1 news: Pierre Gasly slams Red Bull for ‘turning on’ him and hints at Max Verstappen bias

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Pierre Gasly has claimed Red Bull ‘turned on’ him after a crash in pre-season testing in 2019. The AlphaTauri driver hinted at bias in favour of Max Verstappen as he recalled how it quickly became clear he wasn’t going to make it at the F1 team.

Gasly was called up from Toro Rosso to drive for Red Bull ahead of the 2019 season, having impressed for the junior team.

Having watched the success Sebastian Vettel enjoyed with the marque, the Frenchman was determined to prove he could drive one of Formula One’s fastest cars.

But he felt the odds were stacked against him from the moment he made a mistake in pre-season testing.

“I started the 2019 season with Red Bull. I’d gotten to F1 with Toro Rosso in 2017, but Red Bull was my first chance to drive for a top team and prove to everyone what I could do in one of the best cars in the world,” the 25-year-old told The Players’ Tribune.

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“And in a way I felt that, if I could do that, I would be sending a message to the people who had doubted me.

“So after a really good year with Toro Rosso in 2018, I got the call from Helmut Marko to let me know they wanted me at Red Bull. They had won so many Championships and Sebastian Vettel had been such an inspiration to me as a kid — I knew I wanted to drive like him one day. So I was realising a dream, and I was just so excited.

“I wish I could tell you it was exactly what I thought it would be — what I wanted it to be. But it wasn’t. It just wasn’t.

“From the moment I made my first mistake in a car, I felt like people there slowly began to turn on me. I’d had a crash in winter testing and from that moment on the season never really got going.

“Then I had a tough first two races with Red Bull and the media just ate me up. Anything I said in the press was twisted into an excuse for my form, and nobody really stuck up for me.”

Gasly claimed he wasn’t treated the same way as others at the team – hinting at preferential treatment for Verstappen, who became the youngest ever driver to claim a Formula One victory when he won the Spanish Grand Prix on his debut for Red Bull aged 18.

“The car wasn’t perfect and I was doing my best to try to improve and learn each week,” said Gasly.

“But here’s what I’ll say about it – it was a difficult time for me at Red Bull because I didn’t feel like I was really supported and treated the same way as others there have been. And for me, that’s something I just can’t accept.

“I was working my ass off every day, trying to get results for the team, but I was not being given all the tools I needed to succeed. I would try to offer solutions but my voice wasn’t heard, or it would take weeks to see changes.

“For whatever reason, I was never going to be a fit in that seat — it was just never going to work.

“I’m not the type of person to start stuff in the media because I am truly grateful to Red Bull for the chance, as well as for everything they have done for me in my career. I really am. But I’m allowed to tell my truth.”

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