Former Formula 1 driver Giedo van der Garde has leaped to the defence of Pierre Gasly, with the Frenchman being demoted from Red Bull Racing back to Toro Rosso, with Alexander Albon doing the exact same.
Van der Garde was reminded by Gasly's situation of his own career in Formula 1. The Dutch driver only competed in Formula 1 for 19 races for Caterham and revealed he kept telling himself "it would be fine" despite his poor form.
Gasly joined Red Bull just 12 races ago from Toro Rosso, but in that time he failed to even score a podium finish and the bosses at the third-place team eventually ran out of patience with the French driver.
"I kept telling myself: This is your first year, stay calm, you have already proven it in GP2. It will come your way," van der Garde said on his Instagram account following the Gasly news breaking.
"Then I got a call from my team boss, someone with whom I always had a good relationship: 'Listen buddy, screw up the next race and you're out of it.' Silence. I did not panic, but (instead) turned the pressure into motivation.
"The next race was at Spa, where I finished in Q2. The team boss hugged me again. That is also how F1 works. Back to the topic: I sympathise with Pierre. However, you can never give up size, find your motivation and the flow with which you drove last year, and I am sure you can prove the opposite to everyone. Give 'm hell."