Gasly: Good to have Verstappen as a benchmark
- Published on 14 Jun 2019 13:30
-
- By: Fergal Walsh
Pierre Gasly insists he has a good relationship with teammate Max Verstappen and believes the Dutchman is a good benchmark for him at Red Bull.
Gasly has struggled at the team ever since he was promoted from Toro Rosso at the end of 2018, failing to match the pace of Verstappen at the opening seven rounds of the season.
MORE: Verstappen: Hard to judge Ferrari mistakes from the outside | Formula 1 confirms delay on 2021 regulations until October
Focusing on improving himself within the car is what Gasly is currently aiming for, rather than beating Verstappen.
"My goal is being able to drive the way I want to, to extract the very maximum from the car," he told Paddock Magazine. "Taking some direction with the team in terms of setup, what I need, and also to try to make the most of my new engineering team around me, because they are also new within the team."
The Frenchman has struggled with the Red Bull RB15, particularly at corner exits, which is where he states he is losing the most ground.
"I’ve always been quite aggressive in my driving, and for the car we had at the beginning of the season that was too much, maybe the rear of the car was a bit tricky, and I just have to adapt the way I used to drive before to what the car needs at this moment.
"I think it’s better now, also for the upgrades, so I would say it’s about working more on what the car needs so the car can become more useful to me as well, and I believe that this would make things better, weekend after weekend."
Gasly says that he can learn a lot from Verstappen who has been at Red Bull much longer, and believes that it helps that the two have known each other for many years.
"I’ve known him for more than ten years: we raced together in karting, and we always kept quite close, and we have spent training camps together in Monaco, we did a lot of activities, and to be fair, everything is going well.
"Besides, he’s more experienced with the team, so I have good things to take from his experience and it’s good to have him as a benchmark as he is one of the most talented guys on the grid."
2
Replies (4)
Login to replyf1fan0101
Posts: 1,804
I don't think he'll be your teammate for too much longer
xoya
Posts: 583
Is it really? I mean, it would be good if he was a few thousands or hundreds of a second slower than him, but he is more than a couple of tenths slower. I don't think that it is good.
It was too early for him to get promoted. Let's just hope that, if he is sacked, he gets a second chance like Kvyat, since he isn't half bad. He might not be a champion material, but we need the rest of the field too.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I would agree with him in one sense: since he is so new, and Max is so fast, he would've likely looked inferior anyway, so I think it could be fortunate in the sense that he is kinda protected by the difference in pace. Not that that is the way he wanted it to be interpreted, mind. But yes, it was too early. He is good, there is potential, but he isn't getting to learn how to put it onto the road.
Ram Samartha
Posts: 1,172
True, the expectation his higher than what he has delivered. For whatever the reason he isn't delivering. Red Bull kind of just promoted him as a knee jerk reaction to Danny Ric leaving. In a hurried effort to show they didn't need him they didn't pick the best available driver.