Red Bull team boss Christian Horner described Pierre Gasly as a “different driver” after claiming P4 at the British Grand Prix.
The Frenchman promised an improvement after a miserable run of three straight races being out-raced by at least one midfield car and finishing a lap down on teammate Max Verstappen in Spielberg.
However, he found himself right in the thick of the action at Silverstone and deserved to equal his best result in Formula 1 albeit thanks to Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel colliding.
“I think Pierre has done a very good job all weekend,” Horner commented.
“Turning the page from Austria, that was a really tough weekend for him, and coming here [he was] just focusing on what he is doing and not worrying what his team-mate was doing.
“Just getting back to basics, he has been like a different driver all weekend.”
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It was a result which certainly took some immediate pressure off Gasly, as questions began to be asked over his future at the team.
And his performance was exactly what Red Bull had been hoping for when they chose to promote the 23-year-old.
“From the first session [at Silverstone], he has been competitive. He has built on that in FP2, and in all three elements of qualifying, he was competitive and the race again here,” Horner continued.
“He passed [Sebastian] Vettel in the race and was racing hard with [Charles] Leclerc and I thought he drove very well.”
Ahead of the race, it was revealed that Gasly would be using Verstappen’s set-up, with a few tweaks, but Red Bull denied that made the difference.
“Not really,” Horner said. “I think that just his approach to the weekend has definitely helped and he has just turned up here and been competitive.”
