Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost claims he is surprised at how much Pierre Gasly has struggled since being promoted from the team to Red Bull, and reckons the Frenchman is much better than he is currently showing in the 2019 F1 season.
After Daniel Ricciardo announced his surprise depature to Renault in the summer, Gasly made the step-up up to replace him from Toro Rosso, but has struggled since then.
He is the only driver out of the top six yet to finish in a podium position, with his role with Red Bull continually coming under question, as it was this weekend when rumours spread that the team were looking at Daniil Kyat to possibly replace him.
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Tost, his former boss at Toro Rosso, has backed Gasly to improve as he knows he can do better.
"I'm a bit surprised," he told Motorsport-Total about Gasly’s performances.
"Simply because Pierre is much better and therefore much faster than he's currently showing. However, I don't know the exact circumstances.
“The RB15 is light on the rear and Gasly doesn't like that.
"The talent is out of the question. He can do it all, but he just needs his time, you have to give him the time to adapt.
Tost reckons that being a team-mate of Max Verstappen, who has been in excellent form this season, can’t be easy for Gasly.
"He has the misfortune of being next to Max Verstappen, who is now established in the team, of course, but Max was also with us [Toro Rosso] once and has also undergone his learning process,” the Austrian added.
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