a similar attribute comparison can be made in the case of sister teams, Red Bull Racing and AlphaTauri. the latter is the secondary team in the mix, embracing a more McLaren-ish way of being. people working in AlphaTauri are part of a more discrete environment. since they are a smaller squad, they have developed a cozy, all-for-one-one-for-all kind of spirit, which makes them appreciate each member more as family. in stark contrast, the Ferrari attitude and stardom are borrowed by the big boys at Red Bull Racing. their team and brand dynamics are centered around fierce competition, pushing situations and each other to the limit, putting more pressure on their people to outperform their peers and themselves. when you are around the UK-based motorsport team, you can feel the high adrenaline coupled with the even higher standards that define their modus operandi. in Red Bull Racing, you either keep up with the circus, or you step down and do something else, somewhere else. that is where Gasly’s story comes in play.

the young Frenchman joined the Formula 1 racing rock stars on October 1^st, 2017 at the Malaysian Grand Prix as a driver for AlphaTauri, better known under their original name, Toro Rosso. from being one of the last men on the grid to ending on fourth place in the 2018 Bahrain Grand Prix, Gasly’s talent and steady growth were beginning to be noticed by fans and race managers alike.  in 2019, the hard work, grit, and consistency paid off, as Gasly was offered a seat in the prestigious Red Bull Racing team next to star driver, Max Verstappen. The team manager, Christian Horner, caught the spirit of the move by saying: “Only one season with Toro Rosso, he’s been promoted perhaps a little earlier than we would have ideally liked but there is never a perfect time. You’ve got to grab that opportunity which he now has.”

of course, Gasly now needed to step up his game. he found himself as the second driver of a global top 3 racing team, surrounded by world class engineers, strategists, a full marketing department, and a fierce and talented colleague in the other car. there were more demands, more pressure, more to learn. things would prove to be completely different than previously experienced in AlphaTauri, from the car itself to, eventually, Gasly’s performance.

the 2019 racing season had a rocky start for the Frenchman. Already in the testing phase of the car, Gasly managed to crash twice, ending up in the track barriers in Barcelona, Spain in the penultimate day of testing. he wasn’t taking any time off his teammate, Max Verstappen, hitting an average deficit of 0.890 seconds in qualifying compared to the Dutchman (in racing, that is a big amount of time, especially when you are driving the same car). with Gasly earning only a third of the points in the drivers’ ranking compared to his teammate, and being the slowest driver overall from all the top 3 teams (Red Bull, Mercedes, Ferrari), it was just a matter of time until Gasly’s Red Bull career would hit rock bottom. and that time came on August 12^th, 2019, in the middle of the season.  

although the team manager repeated throughout the season that he wants to give Gasly the benefit of the doubt, and that the whole team would have his back to allow him to grow, his winning-streak hunger (something usual for Horner) overruled the initial comments about the Frenchman. that is how Pierre Gasly found himself in the difficult position of being demoted back to AlphaTauri, Red Bull’s secondary racing team. although the media portrayed this moment as shocking, the entire sequence of events was predictable. all Gasly had to do was look at whether or not he was going to fit into Red Bull’s demanding environment.

Gasly is an ambitious driver, willing to put in the work, test his limits, and try to move the car up the rankings in a race in any way possible. but his eager nature needs to be balanced out by a supportive atmosphere. instead of having a fired-up coach screaming at him to push things further, faster, harder, Gasly’s natural personality would have benefitted from a gentle, yet steady father figure in terms of handling. one can see how much the Frenchman thrives in family-oriented team dynamics, compared to the more individualistic, rock-star ethos of Red Bull. this can be best noticed from Gasly’s driving style, which was characterized as “too aggressive for Red Bull”. he would push the car to limits that neither he, nor the car could handle. this matter of handling pressure by bringing one’s self to the edge in a destructive fashion happens when there is a lack of balance between an overly-competitive team setting and a personality that still needs to grow in order to be self-confident and not succumb to pressure. for his teammate, Max Verstappen, the development process, and his efforts to get into the vibe of the team felt smoother. that is due to his character, which is the polar opposite of the Frenchman’s, and fits the Red Bull environment like a charm. Verstappen is hotheaded and unapologetic. he loves to take risks and does not care about what others have to say about him. if he fails (which he was known to do when he would go for some risky moves on the track), he takes full responsibility and quickly tries to learn and adapt for his next try. adrenaline and track-talent are inherent for the young Dutchman. for him, Red Bull was his thriving home. Gasly had the exact scenario going for him at AlphaTauri. but he couldn’t make that happen at Red Bull.

usually, when a race driver is demoted due to lack of performance, the event triggers a deeply emotional inner journey. one can feel anger, shame, frustration, disappointment, despair. add the external attention coming from being a public figure, and you have the perfect recipe for personal disaster. Gasly definitely went through his fair share of emotional turmoil, but he eventually understood the situation. in the end, coming back to the team where he started marked the beginning of a humbling, hero-story-inspired path, that actually set him up for his first Formula One victory, which happened last Sunday at the Italian Grand Prix.