Perhaps no surprise here, a logical choice and one that will give Pierre a chance to measure himself against one of the sport’s rising stars, Max Verstappen. Pierre has some fight in him and some vigor and it will be interesting to see how these two personalities get along at Red Bull Racing.
Full Red Bull Racing Press Release:
Pierre who had his first competitive taste of Formula One last year, joining our sister team Scuderia Toro Rosso from the 2017 Malaysian Grand Prix, has had an impressive first full season in the sport this year, notably driving superbly to finish fourth at the Bahrain Grand Prix and notching two further top ten finishes in the first half of the season.
Pierre’s career in motorsport has gone from strength to strength. Following a start in karting he competed in the French F4 Championship in 2011 before graduating to Formula Renault 2.0, winning that title in 2013. Now as part of the Red Bull Junior Programme he moved to the 3.5 Renault series racing for Arden Motorsport before stepping up to GP2 in 2015 and becoming Red Bull Racing’s reserve driver. He won the 2016 GP2 Drivers’ Championship at the end of a thrilling season racing for the Prema Powerteam. In 2017 he competed in Japan’s Super Formula Championship, finishing runner-up while having already begun his F1 career, racing at Scuderia Toro Rosso.
Christian Horner, Team Principal said: “Since Pierre first stepped into a Formula One seat with Scuderia Toro Rosso less than a year ago he has proved the undoubted talent that Red Bull has nurtured since his early career. His stellar performances this year at the Honda-powered team, in only his first full season in Formula One, have only enhanced his reputation as one of the most exciting young drivers in motorsport and we look forward to Pierre bringing his speed, skill and attitude to the Team in 2019. While our immediate focus remains fully on achieving our best result in the 2018 World Championship, we look forward to competing in 2019 with Max and Pierre at the wheel of Aston Martin Red Bull Racing.”
Pierre commented: “To be awarded a drive at Aston Martin Red Bull Racing from 2019 is a dream come true for me, I’m so excited to be joining this top Team. It has been my goal to race for this Team since I joined the Red Bull Junior Driver Programme in 2013, and this incredible opportunity is another step forward in my ambition to win Grands Prix and compete for World Championships. Red Bull has always looked to fight for championships or victories and that’s what I want. I’m a really competitive guy and when I do something it’s always to fight for the best and top positions.
“As hugely exciting a moment as this is, I am fully aware of the challenge this special opportunity offers me and the expectations that faces any driver at Aston Martin Red Bull Racing. I’m looking forward to rewarding the faith that Dietrich Mateshitz, Christian Horner and Dr Helmut Marko have placed in me. The first phase of that is to keep pushing for ultimate performance and the best results in 2018 that I can achieve for my Team, Scuderia Toro Rosso. I wish to thank Franz Tost and everyone at Toro Rosso and the factory in Faenza for giving me the golden opportunity of a drive in Formula One and their amazing commitment and support, which I know will continue for the rest of this season. My focus now is to do everything I can to give them a season to celebrate.”
Wow! That really is a bold move from RBR. I presume that as well as the good stuff we’ve seen from Gasley on the track, he must be working well with the Toro Rosso engineering team and the Honda p.u team. It sure will make for an interesting season for RBR next year, a hyper competitive, hyper aggressive, mistake prone ‘lead’ driver,. Another hyper competitive young second driver in ‘that difficult second season’. New engine supplier, another big regulation change. Chance of mayhem, high to certain! From a kiwi point of view, its also great news, Chance of Hartley keeping… Read more »
It makes sense for Red Bull to totally embrace underdog tactics. In any sport, it generally benefits the underdog to promote risk and chaos. High risk, high reward, anything you can do to shake things up and increase the role of pure randomness in the outcome. I like that they’re taking risks with Honda and Gasly, it gives them a possible route to the championship rather than hanging steady at a distant third in the WCC.
Hi jtr,
As you say, High Risk, and if it goes right High Reward (see Mclaren for the other potential outcome).
Either way, it will give us fans something to talk about.
I wonder how he feels considering that Marko just came out and stated that their goal is to make Max the youngest WDC.