Red Bull has no plans to promote Pierre Gasly back to the senior team soon despite his ongoing strong form with AlphaTauri, says Christian Horner.
Gasly was dropped by Red Bull midway through the 2019 season due to a sequence of poor performances and was replaced by rookie Alexander Albon.
However one year on, Albon is enduring his own struggles at Red Bull Racing, scoring only 48 points to Max Verstappen’s 110, while he has yet to out-qualify the Dutch driver this season.
Gasly, meanwhile, has excelled since returning to Toro Rosso/AlphaTauri, scoring 18 points this year to the two amassed by team-mate Daniil Kvyat.
Gasly caught the eye in Belgium as he surged to eighth place on an off-set strategy, having run strongly early in the race, earning the Driver of the Day plaudit.
“Well I think he [Gasly] is performing well in the environment that AlphaTauri give him,” Horner said.
“I think the car is a good car this year, I think it’s an easier car perhaps to drive than our car has been at times but I think, Alex is, you know, performances on Sundays have been very strong.
“He drove another good race [at Spa], his defending his overtaking, his attacking is always strong.
“I think we’re going in the right direction so I think it’s good to see you know Pierre getting back up to speed, which is why he’s still on the programme. But we’re happy with the way things, are.”
Gasly’s upturn in form was noticeable straight away after his demotion, with his maiden podium finish coming at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The Frenchman says he feels even stronger this year with AlphaTauri, as he is more experienced within the environment.
“I think I know exactly why it didn’t click there [at Red Bull],” said Gasly, speaking prior to the Belgian Grand Prix.
“I think the second part of the season last year was already very strong without talking specifically about Brazil, but we had really strong races already before that.
“Brazil was obviously the cherry on the cake and was really amazing to finish that high after everything I had to go through that way, but no, I feel that this year is even better.
“I think I know the team a bit more, my engineers know me a bit more. The way we work is probably a bit more efficient. But we are carrying this good momentum we started already from Spa last year.
“I think we can still do even more. The team is pushing. I’m pushing flat out, and I hope we can continue this great form.”
