Helmut Marko has heaped praise on Pierre Gasly after the Frenchman secured an excellent fourth place finish in the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday for his first points in Formula 1.
Gasly had been a top ten contender all weekend long, impressing in each of the practice sessions before making it through to the top ten shootout in Qualifying for the first time in his career, with the Frenchman then setting the sixth best time in Q3.
This translated into a top five start and a top four finish, obviously assisted by the retirements of both Daniel Ricciardo and Kimi Raikkonen, but still extremely impressive none-the-less, with the performance earning him the Driver of the Day award as voted by Formula 1 fans during the race.
Marko, an advisor of Red Bull Racing, said the Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda driver’s performance throughout the weekend at the Bahrain International Circuit has ‘made a man out of him’, with the fourth place also the best result for a Honda-powered car since the Japanese manufacturer returned to Formula 1 back in 2015.
“That made a man out of him,” Marko is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com. “His reward is the fourth place. All our drivers have a very good bonus system. This will more than please him.
“I didn’t expect a fourth place that early – but it’s a positive development. It was the target to challenge the midfield with this engine. Not here, but in the first half of the season.”
