Red Bull changes pay off for Gasly

Pierre Gasly feels the extensive changes he’s made to his Red Bull setup following a tough Austrian Grand Prix have given him the tools to start strongly at the British Grand Prix having topped the opening practice.

The French driver endured a nightmare outing at the Red Bull Ring when he was lapped by teammate Max Verstappen, despite being ahead of him on track on the opening lap, with the Dutch driver charging to victory.

Having held vital talks with Red Bull team principal Christian Horner after the Austrian round, Gasly has made changes to his approach for this weekend while confirming he will use the same setup as Verstappen this weekend.

The tweaks appeared to pay off immediately in FP1 at Silverstone as he topped the session before beating Verstappen again in the afternoon practice despite fading to fifth place as the Mercedes and Ferrari pairs cranked up their pace.

“I am happy. We made a lot of changes since Austria and did a lot of work with the team and the guys to see how we can improve on my side,” Gasly said. “Also how we can work better together. It seems to work well so far.

“It was a positive Friday but it is only Friday so we won’t too excited but it is a really good start.”

Despite leading the Red Bull charge on the times, Gasly is confident of finding further gains after ending FP2 0.517s off pace-setter Valtteri Bottas in the Mercedes having battled the high winds which hit the afternoon session at Silverstone.

“It was super windy, from one corner to another you get really different balance and sliding a lot,” he said. “Even my lap this afternoon wasn’t super. I know I can find a bit more so I think it is tricky for everybody and it will be important not to do any mistakes tomorrow.”