Pierre Gasly heads into this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring aiming for a strong performance, with the Frenchman hoping the track allows Red Bull Racing to excel once more.
Team-mate Max Verstappen was victorious at Red Bull’s home track in 2018, and Gasly says it is an important weekend to maximise the potential of the RB15 as he bids to get his first season with the Milton Keynes-backed squad back on track.
“Austria is the first back to back race of the season, which for me is the best part of the year because I enjoy racing so much,” said Gasly. “Going from one weekend to the other and racing the whole time is what makes me happy.
“As a Red Bull driver, racing at the Austrian GP is something really special and I’m looking forward to seeing all the fans over the weekend. The track has been quite good for Red Bull in the past and we’re ready to push for the best result we can.”
Gasly’s 2019 has not gone the way he had hoped since his promotion to Red Bull from Scuderia Toro Rosso, with the Frenchman still seeking his maiden Formula 1 podium going into this weekend’s ninth race of the year.
Never-the-less, Gasly says there are ideas being touted by his team to help him adapt more to the RB15 and find that extra turn of pace team-mate Verstappen is able to find across every race weekend.
“We have ideas,” Gasly said to Motorsport.com. “I think for this weekend it should be fine. I’m not going to go into details and everything, but we’re all working and developing to make sure we extract the full potential.
“This weekend that’s what we’re going to do, as every weekend.”
Gasly believes Verstappen has found a way to make his car more consistent than he has managed so far, and he knows there is work to do in order to find that consistency so to make better results a possibility.
“I think at the moment it’s a bit inconsistent,” said the Frenchman. “Some sessions we are fast, some others we are not. So it’s just a matter of finding that consistency, consistent base and yeah, that’s the main thing.
“I think with the car, sometimes we are fast, we manage to be fast, just not to be as consistent as the other car, for different reasons. I think it’s really important for us to find what works and go like that every weekend, building from that base.
“It’s that at the moment we’re struggling to find.”
