Pierre Gasly reveals why it was hard to leave Red Bull

Pierre Gasly revealed that he wanted to leave Red Bull much earlier. However, it was hard for him to escape given Helmut Marko and Franz Tost were impressed by his performance. He said that all parties were aware of his intention to leave AlphaTauri, but it wasn't easy for him because he didn't want to leave the team hanging.

He stated in an interview with RacingNews365.com that since his career started with the team, he was thoughtful of satisfying the team before he left them:

"It was important for me not to just leave AlphaTauri and Red Bull and escape from the programme. I'm grateful what they've given me in my career and that's why it was important that everybody finds what they require."

Pierre Gasly debuted in Formula 1 with Toro Rosso (now known as AlphaTauri) in 2017 but failed to score any points in his first season. In 2018, however, he was much better with his performances and this gave him a promotion to Red Bull in 2019.

However, he was not impressive enough against Max Verstappen and soon moved back to Toro Rosso. There, he scored his maiden victory in Monza, Italy, in 2020. This is also his only victory so far.

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Pierre Gasly reveals AlphaTauri needed a fast and competitive driver to replace him

Pierre Gasly will be moving to Alpine after this season to fill the seat left by Fernando Alonso (who will be moving to Aston Martin). However, Gasly remarked that he couldn't leave Red Bull easily because the team needed someone strong to replace him. He stated that it was hard to move because the team personnel needed someone good enough to make him 'escape' the Red Bull program.

"But it was very clear that it was just not a simple deal because obviously it's not like Helmut (Marko) or Franz (Tost) would let me go without conditions. They need a fast and competitive driver to replace me and give AlphaTuari what they need."

It was hard to speculate a move by Gasly to a different team as he was hard to replace. However, after Nyck de Vries put on an excellent performance at the Italian Grand Prix with Williams, he secured himself the AlphaTauri seat for 2023. Later, AlphaTauri announced that de Vries will be alongside Yuki Tsunoda next year, and Gasly will finally have a chance with a different team in Alpine.