Gasly building bridges with Marko

Back in September, during the Italian Grand Prix a rumour in the paddock began to circulate that Daniil Kvyat was set to lose his Toro Rosso drive with immediate effect.

The rumour was based solely on the evidence that 20-year-old French driver Pierre Gasly, who won the GP2 Series in 2016, told Spanish media that he would replace Kvyat for the Singapore Grand Prix.

A pretty solid source if ever there was one?

He claimed he was told the news via a representative of French manufacturer Renault, who are engine providers for sister team Red Bull Racing.

‘Twenty minutes ago they told me ‘Yeah, you are going to drive in Singapore’. Really? Let’s hope it’s true. But in the end I need to see Helmut.’ he told Spanish channel Movistar as quoted by motorsport.com.

Unfortunately for Gasly his information proved to be very wrong and whilst he did indeed have a conversation with Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko it wasn’t the conversation he had hoped to have.

Marko was clearly surprised and somewhat angered when he was informed of the comments by Gasly live on Sky Sports.

He later said: ‘I just heard it here for the first time. I cannot imagine that Gasly is so stupid to make these comments.’

This would see somewhat of a fallout between Pierre Gasly and Marko and not only did Gasly not get an immediate drive with Toro Rosso, but he didn’t get any kind of drive for 2017 either with Red Bull Racing sticking with Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen, whilst Toro Rosso have kept faith with Carlos Sainz and Daniil Kvyat.

‘When you put a lot of energy, time and work, you’re disappointed to miss out on the opportunity, I think they [Red Bull] saw that I was doing my best to make it. That’s what they like.

‘Helmut liked the way I reacted. He pushes me and supports me well. The relationship has been better for the last two or three months, even though the decision didn’t go my way.

‘He supports me, pushes me and motivates me to keep giving it all, knowing that things can change very quickly in F1.’ he told French radio channel RMC as quoted by motorsport.com.