2023 will be the first year since 2014 that Pierre Gasly hasn’t been supported by the Red Bull family, with the Frenchman having spent virtually his entire motorsport career so far backed by the Austrians.
Gasly was inducted into the Red Bull Junior Academy in December 2013, meaning he was supported from 2014 onwards, until now.
His move from AlphaTauri to Alpine for next season has seen the Frenchman say a sad goodbye to the team that has done so much for him, even if his time driving for the official team was unsuccessful.
Following a strong junior career, which saw him win the GP2 championship and come close to winning the Super Formula Championship, Gasly was promoted to Toro Rosso (known now as AlphaTauri) towards the end of the 2017 F1 season.
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The Frenchman made his debut at the Malaysian Grand Prix, before going on to stay with Red Bull’s sister outfit until the end of 2018.
Following the departure of Daniel Ricciardo, Gasly was promoted to the main Red Bull side to partner Max Verstappen.
The move seemingly came too early in his F1 career, as the Frenchman underperformed alongside Verstappen.
He sadly faced the brunt of the Austrians high expectations and was demoted back to the sister side, from the Belgian Grand Prix in 2019 onwards.
In a weird way, his demotion was the best thing to happen to Gasly, as he returned with a hunger and a desire to prove Red Bull wrong.
He went on to claim a podium at the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix and famously won the 2020 Italian Grand Prix, before claiming another podium at the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Gasly led the Faenza-based team brilliantly, and despite a disappointing 2022 campaign, he earned himself the move to Alpine.
At Alpine he will have a package at his disposal that will be able to challenge for points consistently, with the pressure now being on him to perform.
Sadly, he never got the chance to return to Red Bull, at least not yet.
Nevertheless, he has grown as a driver whilst working for the Red Bull family and leaves with no regrets about never driving for the main outfit again.
“Not at all,” Gasly said, per the French version of Motorsport.com.
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“That’s my career, that’s my story with Red Bull. I really believe that what was supposed to happen happened.
“I have learned a lot. I am convinced that I am in a much better position, I am a much better driver than I was before.
“I am the person I am today because of the experience I had there. I have grown a lot, both on and off the track. If you ask me, I wouldn’t change that for the world.
“I just know that I’m 26 now and I’m getting better every year, like a good red wine. I don’t know how far it will go, but I just know that personally I keep getting better and better and I know that the best is yet to come. So I’m really grateful for what’s happened.”