Rene Rosin believes Pierre Gasly is ready for a promotion to Formula 1, and should be in the premiere single seater formula sooner rather than later.
The Prema Powerteam boss, who saw Gasly take the 2016 GP2 Series crown with his team with four race wins – all in Feature races – was disappointed that the Frenchman was overlooked for a drive with Scuderia Toro Rosso when Red Bull decided to retain Daniil Kvyat alongside Carlos Sainz Jr, but feels he is ready to do a good job should he move up into F1.
Rosin also believes that Gasly should stay active and take on a drive in another category – such as Super Formula in Japan – to be ready to make his bow in Formula 1.
“For me, he’s totally ready for Formula 1,” said Rosin to Motorsport.com. “He deserves a seat in Formula 1, unfortunately of course Red Bull announced for Toro Rosso Kvyat and Sainz.
“But he is ready for Formula 1. I would like to see him quite soon in a bigger category. “[He should] continue pushing like he’s doing. If he has a chance to get a drive somewhere else, [he should] get it, to keep him in training, and try to convince the people at Red Bull that he’s the right guy.
“He’s capable of doing it, he’s a real team player, somebody who is really working hard inside the team to build up everything, and he’s done this season an amazing job.”