Gasly disappointed to miss out on podium after ‘best Sunday of the year’

Pierre Gasly was under considerable pressure heading into the British Grand Prix weekend. The Frenchman has struggled to find performance out of his Red Bull RB15 since being promoted from Toro Rosso, with the stark contrast between his and Max Verstappen's performances perhaps never starker than in Austria, where Gasly finished a lap down on his victorious team mate. But from the minute Gasly arrived in Silverstone, it looked like a page had been turned...

The Frenchman was fastest in FP1 on Friday, quicker than his team mate in all three practice sessions and within touching distance of the frontrunners in qualifying. He then produced a bullish race, at one stage passing Vettel's Ferrari, before benefitting from the German's clash with Verstappen to finish fourth, just 4.575s off the podium.

“The whole weekend has been strong from Friday to Sunday, with today being my best Sunday of the year,” said Gasly, “We’re fighting with the guys at the front, which is where we should be, and I’m really happy with fourth today.”

Gasly continued: “Of course as a competitive guy I’m disappointed not to get on the podium as it was so close but we’ve made a big step this weekend and we’re working in the right direction.”

READ MORE: The Winners and Losers of the British Grand Prix

P4 matches Gasly’s best result of his F1 career, scored in last year’s Bahrain Grand Prix while driving for Toro Rosso. That also means that his performance at Silverstone – a track he won at in GP2 in 2016 – was his best of the year so far.

It stood as the highlight of what was a fairly anti-climatic weekend for Red Bull, with Verstappen looking set for a podium before colliding with Sebastian Vettel at Club Corner on Lap 37 of 52.

Speaking of Gasly's confidence-buoying Grand Prix, Team Principal Christian Horner said: “Pierre’s race was the continuation of a very strong weekend, running hard with the Ferraris and doing a very long stint on the hard tyre to get to the end of the race to achieve his best finish of the year.

"This has been a great confidence builder for him and hopefully he can use this to get some momentum going for his next race.”

Gasly lies sixth in the drivers' standings on 55 points, while Verstappen is third on 136 points, 48 off the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas.