Gasly: “I thought, okay I have these nine races where I’m going to show my skills"

Pierre Gasly's 2019 was certainly a roller coaster as he faced promotion, demotion and a podium all in one season. The Frenchman has admitted he felt as if he had nine races to prove himself after returning to Toro Rosso.

Gasly started the season with Red Bull but the tone for his year was set at Albert Park as he missed out on the points on his debut. It gradually improved but during the summer break Red Bull took the decision to drop Gasly to Toro Rosso, and replace him with Alex Albon and that is how it will stay next season.

However, Gasly showed some signs of a resurgence at Toro Rosso, especially when he finished second in Brazil, ensuing jubilant scenes after the race. The Frenchman has admitted he was shocked and angry after receiving the news of his demotion.

“Of course when I got the news I was really shocked and kind of angry,” Gasly told Motorsportweek.com.

“I don’t feel it was fair, because these first six months were nowhere near what we should have shown. You do care, because you want to be in the fastest car.

“And I’ve tried to make changes in my way, and I’ve been promised things that in the end didn’t happen. There were many things that didn’t go in the right way.

“But at the end of the day this was the situation, it was done, it was passed, I couldn’t change it.

“I thought, okay, I have these nine races where I’m going to show my skills, my speed, my consistency, the things I’ve shown since I started single-seaters until I got to Red Bull."