Pierre Gasly in Japan following in Stoffel Vandoorne’s footsteps
Red Bull's French protégé Pierre Gasly has announced that he will take part in the forthcoming Japanese Super Formula championship, as Belgian Stoffel Vandoorne did last year before joining McLaren as a regular for the 2017 season.
Pierre Gasly officially announced this morning his program for the 2017 season. Besides the fact that the French driver keeps his position as the third driver for Red Bull, behind Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen, he has decided to participate in the Super Formula championship taking place in Japan.
This is a new big challenge for me and that’s what I love! Certainly, Japan is special. I participated in the Japanese Grand Prix weekend in 2015 with Red Bull and I already have an idea of what to expect. I know it will be very different. I have no experience with the cars or the tracks there and I know that Japanese culture, philosophy, and way of working are very different, Gasly stated in a press release.
This choice to go to Japan is reminiscent of the one made by Stoffel Vandoorne last year when the Belgian driver saw his path blocked at McLaren by Jenson Button’s contract renewal as a main driver: « In a sense, I am following Stoffel’s path who also went into this discipline last year. I am also very happy to be Red Bull’s third driver for another season, to be able to work with Max and Daniel and to gain experience, a work method, and conduct to maintain during a Grand Prix, says Gasly.
We remember the surprising choice by Toro Rosso and Helmut Marko last year to retain Daniil Kvyat for the coming season and make Pierre Gasly wait one more year before launching him into the big league of Formula 1. But in the Red Bull camp, it’s also known that nothing is set in stone and anything can happen.
