Pierre Gasly insists he can handle the pressure of racing for a top team as he looks to move back to the front of the grid after his ill-fated spell with Red Bull.
He joined Max Verstappen with the main team at the start of the 2019 season with the team hoping he could fill the void left by Daniel Ricciardo. Alas, he could not, as he struggled to cope with the weight of the expectation that comes with the seat.
It was clear that he was cracking under the pressure, and so Christian Horner acted after just 12 races. He was demoted back to the sister team, while Alex Albon moved in the opposite direction and lasted another 18 months, before the arrival of Verstappen's current team-mate Sergio Perez.
Since returning to AlphaTauri, Gasly's task has been to recover from the hefty hit to his reputation. And he has managed to do so, winning the Italian Grand Prix in 2020 and, last season, enjoying his best ever campaign in terms of points secured, finishing ninth in the drivers' standings.
But the door was closed on a return to Red Bull with Perez's new contract, securing his place until the end of 2024. Gasly will see out his final season with AlphaTauri next year, but after that it appear he will have to move elsewhere if he wants to be driving closer to the front.
"I still have a year left on my contract with [Red Bull]," he told Motorsport.com. "I think there were a lot of rumours around my name because Red Bull had not yet announced clearly what was planned with me, at least I think so. Once Perez was signed they wanted me to stay here where I am, and we will go on until my contract expires.
"If I think about it now, after five years in Formula 1, I am a much more complete driver. I think I have shown that with a mid-table car I have been able to grow and achieve good results, and with all the respect I have for AlphaTauri, there will always be a gap to a top team. We can achieve a podium, even a win we have shown that it is not impossible, there was a one per cent chance and we did it."
Amid the ongoing situation at Alpine, with Oscar Piastri not keen on staying with the team as hoped, Gasly was one of the drivers linked with a move to the Enstone outfit for 2023. It would make sense for a French driver to join the Renault-powered team, but Red Bull are not keen on letting him go a year early.
"There is no exit clause for Gasly. There was none before the summer break and there will be none after the summer break," said Helmut Marko, while AlphaTauri chief Franz Tost added: "It makes no sense for Red Bull to let Pierre go."
