Prominent Sky Sports Presenter Believes Gasly is After Ricciardo’s McLaren F1 Seat

The weather forecasts are out and it’s ‘Silly Season’ at F1. Another storm is brewing as we may see Pierre Gasly in a blue and orange jumpsuit next season. Rumor has it Gasly has his eyes set on Daniel Ricciardo’s seat at McLaren. While the two drivers have had rather contrasting performances till Silverstone, Daniel has shown improvement.

Before Sunday’s race, Skysports’s Ted Kravitz made a rather startling statement. Referring to the oncoming race he said, “Pierre Gasly wants to try and out-score Daniel Ricciardo because he’s only one point behind him in the Drivers’ Championship and this Gasly-Ricciardo championship battle…” The idea of a “Gasly-Ricciardo battle” has crossed no one’s mind, and the possibility of me taking place also seems less likely.

However, Ted seems rather confident. He adds, “Gasly wants to try and cling on to it with all of his fingernails because he wants to be in a position where he can actually challenge Ricciardo–in a faster McLaren, you’ve got to say–at the end of the year.”

As he had mentioned earlier, Gasly was a point behind Ricciardo on the drivers’ board. Although, after Silverstone, the gap has increased to 11 points; Daniel bagged a season-best P5, while Gasly scored no points.

A strong argument for Pierre Gasly

Ted Kravitz’s comments make one think: why would Pierre want to “cling on with all his fingernails?” This is the first we’ve heard of this speculation, but is it already so intense? It’s true, Ricciardo has been struggling with the orange car, but seems to have made progress over the Silverstone weekend.

While Gasly is reported to have two more years with AlphaTauri, he has mentioned getting tasteful offers from other teams. He is the number one driver at the second Red Bull team and has been having a great season with the car so far. Gasly has said, “it’s something we will talk about with Red Bull and with Helmut [Marko] especially.”

He added, “I don’t know what is the will of Helmut and whether they want to take me back, whether they want me to stay in AlphaTauri, whether they are willing to release me to another team.”

Red Bull obviously overlooked Pierre going into this season as Sergio Perez took the second seat. It also appears that Helmut Marko and Gasly don’t exactly have the best relationship.

A stronger argument for Daniel Ricciardo at McLaren

The Frenchman is obviously in an undecided position. His two years with the team have given him a win and two podiums; along with the importance of being the main man.

While it would wrong to completely write off the possibility of Gasly’s transfer, do we see him at McLaren? if true, is the connection one-sided?

Despite Ricciardo’s difficulties, it doesn’t seem likely that the team will give up on him anytime soon. Ricciardo is committed to the team until 2023, so it is rather difficult to see Gasly heading to the McLaren garage soon.

The Aussie‘s greatest strength lies in late -braking and then quickly exiting corners. While this driving style has caused him issues with the MCL35M, recent results show he’s changed his style and is getting the most of the car.

With the sizeable gaps between races and the hullabaloo surrounding the driver market, it will be interesting to see what will be the roster for the 2022 grid. It will be an interesting return after the summer break.

Watch this story: Love Is in the Paddock: F1 Fraternity Rings in Valentine’s Day