"It doesn't work in practice": Pierre Gasly's former boss knew the French driver would struggle at Red Bull

AlphaTauri Team Principal Franz Tost knew Pierre Gasly would struggle at Red Bull after his high-profile move to the team in 2019.

The Austrian team promoted the French driver after Daniel Ricciardo decided to leave them for Renault ahead of the 2019 season. Gasly, who completed his first season in the sport with then-Toro Rosso, was given the call-up by Red Bull.

The youngster, however, struggled massively against his teammate Max Verstappen and was unceremoniously dropped by the Austrian team and sent back to Toro Rosso.

While appearing on the Beyond the Grid podcast, Tost stated that he knew that Pierre Gasly would struggle and conveyed his feelings to the senior team. He said:

"Too soon, I said immediately it will not work. He was not mature enough to go there. We are a team to educate young drivers, you can’t just say, yeah he drove now a year with Toro Rosso he must come up to us to be successful against Max and to score points, to finish second or whatever.

"This is on a piece of paper or a computer, it sounds good, it looks good, it doesn’t work in practice."

Pierre Gasly speaks on his time with the Red Bull family

Pierre Gasly left the Red Bull pool of drivers at the end of the 2022 season when he decided to join the Alpine F1 team to replace Fernando Alonso.

On the Beyond the Grid podcast, the French driver spoke about the high-pressure environment at Red Bull and the stress that came with it. He said:

"There was a lot of pressure, but I love that pressure. There was a lot of stress showing up in Japan, not understanding anything, a new car, and I had no idea about the racetracks. But I didn't crumble down. If anything, I got better as a driver.

"Starting in F1, it was a roller coaster ride from podiums to promotion to the best team in Formula 1. It was just quite unfortunate that year, that the car wasn't working as well. It was just unlucky timing, things didn’t work out the best way. It definitely made me better as a driver and also as a person."

Although Pierre Gasly never got a second chance to go up against Max Verstappen in a Red Bull car after he was dropped, it would have been fascinating to see him challenge the Dutch driver after becoming a more mature and skilled racer in the three seasons with AlphaTauri.