Pierre Gasly became such a well-known name for F1, that you do not need to introduce him to anybody who’s been watching the sport for even a short while.

The 25-year-old French driver began his F1 career in 2017, with his debut for Toro Rosso during the 2017 Malaysian GP. He progressed to the senior team of Red Bull Racing partnering Max Verstappen in 2019 as a replacement for Daniel Ricciardo, but halfway through the season he was demoted back to Toro Rosso, the team he is currently driving for. Despite the demotion, Gasly definitely found his flow at Alpha Tauri and started to shine brighter than ever - with his first podium during the Italian GP in 2020 and 3rd place in Azerbaijan in 2021, as well as an overall good impression of his skills. Season 2021 finished for him with the 9th overall position, and ahead of the season 2022, Pierre looks at his future in F1 and what he has to focus on. 

In a recent interview with TheRace.com, Gasly reflected on the next step in his career and the potential drivers changes in 2023. As he said in that interview: “I think it’s going to be a key move.

“We’ll have to see what the view of Red Bull is over the next few years because now it’s been eight years I’ve been with them.

“It’s a long time and obviously at the moment they have a very competitive car.

“I need to see what they are going to do with Max and how they move forward, but obviously I need to think also about my career.

“I’m still very young, I’m 25, but my goal is to be in the first seat once these guys [top teams] are going to look at who can be a replacement.

“I was ninth in the drivers’ championship. All of the eight guys ahead of me are the drivers who are running for the four best constructors. That’s why it’s important for me to show that if there is a free seat, I should be the first choice.”

When asked about the potential team-switch in the near future, Gasly replied: 

“First of all, my priority is Red Bull. But at the moment, they have decided to continue with Sergio.

“I don’t know what they’re going to plan. They’re saying probably 2023 there could be an option, so yeah, I’ll try to put myself in the best position for that.”

Lastly, Pierre reflected upon his key focus points for the next years, mainly on what he has to improve still. For the young Frenchman, the most important thing is to gain more an more experience. As he said himself: “At this point, I think it’s just experience.

“Compared to other sports where you practice every single day – tennis you are at the court Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday – in F1 you just get race weekends to work on your skills, develop your understanding about yourself, about the car, how to be at the limit and I think this just comes naturally with more races and more years in F1.

“If you look at Max, he came in very young but he was making more mistakes compared to what he does now. Lewis when he was younger was making more mistakes than you see him doing now.

“I really feel it’s a sport where as experience increases, it makes you stronger as an overall driver.”