Helmut Marko admits that Pierre Gasly could depart the Red Bull set-up should the Frenchman not find his way back in their senior team before his contract concludes at the end of 2023.
Gasly was initially promoted to Red Bull Racing in 2019 but was only given ten races with the team before being replaced by Alexander Albon, with the Frenchman returning to Scuderia Toro Rosso, which is now Scuderia AlphaTauri.
However, since his return, Gasly has again and again proven himself to be a top driver within Formula 1, with a race win coming in the 2020 Italian Grand Prix as well as two other podium finishes in the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix and 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
This has prompted calls from many to bring the Frenchman back into the fold at Red Bull, including a call from former Toro Rosso co-owner Gerhard Berger, who believes Gasly has already done enough to warrant a second chance in the senior team.
However, Red Bull Advisor Marko has said the team still have a contract in place with Sergio Pérez, and it is not the right time to compare the two and decide who will be team-mate with Max Verstappen. Marko admits, however, that Gasly could leave the Red Bull programme altogether if he does not join their championship-fighting team before his contract ends.
“Gerhard is right, but at the moment we still have a contract with Checo,” Marko is quoted as saying to Formel1.de by Motorsport.com. “We have to compare the performance of these two drivers, and with Checo we still have until the middle of the year.
“With Gasly we still have a contract until 2023, and it’s already clear that if this contract expires and we can’t offer him a chance to move up, we will most likely lose him, and we don’t want that.”
