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Pierre Gasly has confirmed that AlphaTauri intends to continue developing the AT03 as the 2022 F1 season progresses.
The Frenchman has scored points in Saudi Arabia and Australia after being forced to retire in the season opener in Bahrain due to reliability issues.
Speaking to the media after his P9 finish in the 2022 F1 Australian GP, Pierre Gasly was optimistic about his chances going forward. He said:
“It’s a positive start to the season, but we will continue to develop the car over the next few weeks. I’m really looking forward to the update at Imola. Hopefully, it will bring us the performance we expect from it. I think we can still be happy with two points, especially because we had bad luck with the safety car. It’s not as if we were incredibly slow. After all, I was running in ninth place behind [Esteban] Ocon before we had bad luck with the safety car and dropped back to 14th. But it’s clear we need some upgrades to keep up with the others.”
AlphaTauri has been plagued by reliability so far in 2022 with both Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda losing out in one race each. They are still faring better than Red Bull, who has a 50% finishing rate in the campaign.
"We don't want that" - Helmut Marko and Red Bull don't want to lose Pierre Gasly
Red Bull team advisor Dr. Helmut Marko has confessed that Christian Horner and Co. want Pierre Gasly to be a member of the team in the years to come.
Gasly was Max Verstappen's teammate for the first half of 2019 before being replaced by Alex Albon. Since then, the Frenchman has thrived at AlphaTauri, claiming his first podium and race win with the Italian side.
His contract with Red Bull, however, runs till 2023 and Marko is aware that should a return to Red Bull not materialize, Gasly could look for a new car.
Speaking to German outlet Formel1, Marko said:
“If his contract expires and we can’t offer him any chance of promotion, we will most likely lose him. We don’t want that. At the moment we still have a contract with ‘Checo’ [Perez] and we have to compare the performance of these two drivers. With ‘Checo’ we still have until the middle of the year. The car suits him better, he feels more comfortable. And he knows the team. We are very happy that this development has taken place.”
Sergio Perez is contracted to the team until the end of the current season and it remains to be seen if the Mexican will have to make way for Gasly.
