Red Bull has announced that Alex Albon will replace Pierre Gasly starting from next month’s Belgian Grand Prix.
This comes after a difficult first 12 races for the Frenchman since stepping up after the departure of Daniel Ricciardo to Renault.
So far Gasly has scored just 63 points, just over a third of the number achieved by teammate Max Verstappen, and has often been battling in the upper part of the midfield rather than in the top six.
A strong weekend at Silverstone appeared to offer signs of progress for Pierre but he has not been able to sustain it with tricky races in Germany and Hungary.
There had been assurances from Red Bull that the 23-year-old would see out the season at the team, however, the decision has been taken to promote Albon which is a big gamble given the proven skills of Daniil Kvyat alongside him at Toro Rosso.
Indeed, it was the Russian who capitalised on the crazy events at Hockenheim to score a third-place finish, but the Thai driver has been strong too in his rookie season with five top 10s to his name.
As for Gasly, he joins Kvyat as just the second driver to be demoted back to Toro Rosso from Spa-Francorchamps.