Christian Horner says Red Bull is in “desperate” need of improvement from Pierre Gasly, after another lacklustre weekend from the Frenchman.
Gasly qualified a subdued sixth at the Hungarian Grand Prix and dropped places at the start, eventually recovering his grid spot, albeit behind McLaren’s Carlos Sainz Jr.
Gasly has amassed just 63 points compared to the 181 gathered by team-mate Max Verstappen in 2019.
“Obviously not having two cars running at the front does hurt us, particularly in the Constructors’ Championship,” said Horner.
“We scored the same amount of points as Ferrari on a track where we should have taken more out of them.
“The start wasn’t great, the first lap wasn’t great, and we shouldn’t be racing Saubers and McLarens, we need him to be racing Ferraris and Mercedes.
“Everything we can do to help him to achieve that is what we will do.”
Red Bull is just 44 points behind Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship, having won twice in 2019, with Ferrari yet to triumph.
“I think Pierre really needs to take some time out during the summer break, reflect on the first half of the season and take the lessons from that into the second half of the year,” said Horner.
“It’s vital for us if we are to stand any chance of catching Ferrari that we have him finishing further ahead.”
Horner stressed that it is Red Bull’s “intention to leave him the car until the end of the year. But we desperately need to see him realising more of the potential of the car.”
