Not so long ago, Pierre Gasly's long-term future in the Red Bull programme appeared to be in doubt. After a frustrating first season in GP2 in 2015, he had no obvious and immediate opportunities to move up to Formula 1 thanks to a logjam of talented drivers in the company's ranks - and the sudden arrival on the scene of a very talented Dutchman had closed one door on him.
"Max [Verstappen] came a bit from nowhere and took all the seats!" says Gasly with a smile. "For me at the time [F1] was a possibility, but after there were no opportunities with Max coming."
There was no option but to stick with Red Bull, knuckle down and prove himself all over again - which he did, making him a prime candidate when a position came up sooner than expected. Having won the 2016 GP2 title, and shone during his time 'on hold' in the Japanese Super Formula series last year, Gasly's star was on the ascent just as Red Bull's junior team found itself in need of drivers at short notice.
When Daniil Kvyat fell out of favour, and some political manoeuvring led to Carlos Sainz Jr being loaned out early to Renault, Gasly was handed his chance - and he ultimately did enough to guarantee a full time promotion for 2018.
"At the end of 2016, after the GP2 title, Red Bull told me' 'You are in the right place, but just the wrong time, and you will need to wait,'" Gasly recalls.
"In my mind I didn't want to think something's going to happen, I didn't want to have any expectations. I just wanted to do a good job, and I knew that at some point if you work really hard then it will pay off .
"I worked hard in Renault 2.0, I won the championship [Eurocup in 2013], I was second in [Formula Renault] 3.5, and I won GP2. At some point something needed to happen.
"I had the same approach: 'Focus on your Super Formula season and if you have a good season, then something will come'. It just arrived a bit earlier than I expected, so for me it's fantastic."
"The French racing federation had a school in Le Mans. Basically it was an old castle, and every morning there was a big fight to go in the shower first, because the first one had the hot water! It was a bit old-school"Pierre Gasly
Gasly hails from Rouen, an F1 venue long before he was born. As with so many drivers it was family involvement in motorsport - albeit at a modest level - that prompted his initial interest.
"My grandfather did karting, and my father did karting and some rally stages and national endurance races with a Peugeot 206. He was French champion, but he always kept it at national level. Then I have three older brothers, and they all raced in karting.
"Since I was two my mother always brought me to the go-kart races to support my brothers. Of course it's good to be supporting, but at some point I thought, 'Now I want some action,' and I actually wanted to drive. The first test I had was at six years old."
It all sounds so straightforward, but initially Gasly's parents were reluctant to see their third son follow the family passion.
"Basically I did the first test because I really pushed them, because I wanted to try. They knew it was an expensive sport to do. So with the experience of my three brothers, at the beginning they were not really keen for me to race in karting, because they knew it was quite expensive.
"And that's why for two years after my first test at six years old, I was just training. I wanted to do some competition, but they didn't really want it. And then they looked for some sponsors, and they found some. After that they said, 'OK now we can start,' and I started competition at nine."
He made quick progress, and at 13 he attracted the support of the French federation, which helped to provide a valuable grounding.
"They said they had put in place a school in Le Mans where you could go and study and also come every night to train, but you need to leave home, so it's your decision. I thought there are only 20 drivers in F1 - if you want to become an F1 driver you have to make sacrifices, and it has to start now. At 13 I went to this school.
"Basically it was an old castle, and every morning there was a big fight to go in the shower first, because the first one had the hot water! It was a bit old-school, but I keep really good memories from it.
"At the time people like Jean-Eric Vergne, Jules Bianchi and Adrien Tambay were the French team in single-seaters. The federation told me, 'Now it's time to switch to cars, and we'll support you.' Drivers were coming to cars really young, and it was, 'We think you have done enough karting, and it's the right time to switch.'"
He enjoyed a solid first season in the French Formula 4 championship in 2011, winning four races and finishing fourth in the championship. That attracted some initial support from Red Bull for his Formula Renault debut in 2012 (pictured below). It was a sort of provisional membership of the junior programme - if he did well, he'd get the full works the following year. But he managed only 10th place in the Eurocup.
"After that year in F4 I had an option contract with Red Bull, that's why at first I only had the [sponsored] helmet, but I wasn't fully in the programme. Then it didn't happen in the end. It was really tough, the first Renault season.
"Helmut Marko was really happy with my performance, my speed, but I always wanted to push more, and I made some mistakes. It was, 'You're fast, but you made too many mistakes, and you're not going to be in the programme next year.'
"Just at the end of my first year in Renault the director of the federation came to Abu Dhabi and said to Helmut, 'You know what, we'll come back next year with the Eurocup title, you're doing a mistake.' Then luckily we found one guy in Switzerland who said we're going to support you and pay for you, and I did another season in Renault 2.0."
It paid off: "I won the Eurocup, so I went back to Abu Dhabi [at the end of 2013] and saw Helmut. We told him, 'We told you last year that we'll come back with the title,' and he said, 'OK, now we do something,' and that's how I came into the programme."
Gasly moved up to FR3.5 for 2014, where despite failing to win a race in his rookie year he finished runner-up to fellow Red Bull man Sainz, who was propelled into Toro Rosso.
"He went straight to F1 after that. The year before he was in F3, but he also did a couple of races in 3.5. He had slightly more experience than me. In the end it was a good first season, I finished second. Stoffel [Vandoorne] also finished second in his first season."
Arguably Gasly was qualified to join Sainz at Toro Rosso - but Verstappen was already on board, and instead Gasly was placed in GP2 with DAMS in 2015. It was to be a difficult first year in the category.
"I think objectively it was a good year in terms of pace - qualifying-wise we were the second best behind Stoffel, with three pole positions - but in the races we were not fast with DAMS.
"So I had to change my driving style a little bit. Coming from 3.5 where you can push like an animal, to GP2 with the Pirellis, was really tough. I had some difficulties with the degradation. Also Alex Lynn coming from GP3 struggled a lot. I'm not sure that in the races we were as fast as in qualifying mode.
"In the end it's always in these difficult times that you learn the most. In the races we had a couple of podiums, but it was not the season I really wanted or wished for. In a way it helped me for the second year."
In 2016 everything came together and Gasly scored four wins to beat Prema team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi to the title.
"For me it was a great year. Qualifying was always good, and the races were always strong. Overall it was a much more difficult year than people might have thought.
"We had so many things go wrong, from a road car crash with my mother at Silverstone, to the extinguisher [going off and causing his exclusion] in Hockenheim when I finished third and I had to start last for the next race, to the safety car in Monza when I was leading and I lost the win because the stewards made a mistake. We could have won the championship one meeting before the end. But at least the championship was exciting, and it went until the last race."
He now had a stellar CV, but there was nowhere to go in Europe. Among the most compelling options was to follow the example of Vandoorne, who raced for a season in Japan before he slotted in at McLaren.
"In looking at the different options, to see that Stoffel went there and had a pretty good season and ended up with a McLaren drive, of course it helped us in the decision to go there."
It was a good decision. He proved to be very competitive, but as had been the case for several generations of visiting Europeans, the Japanese experience was as much about exploring life off the track as the racing on it.
"You find issues that you don't find in Europe, and you need to find solutions to make the best out of the situation. So in a way you're always thinking"Pierre Gasly on racing in Japan
"It's far from everything, so in all aspects it's a positive experience. They sent me there, I was on my own, with people I really didn't know.
"When I jumped in the plane I was, 'What will I discover, how's it going to be?' You find issues that you don't find in Europe, and you need to find solutions to make the best out of the situation. So in a way you're always thinking, and you are really involved in the performance with the team. It's a positive experience because you learn new things - you need to care about things that you don't in Europe.
"Honestly at the beginning of the season I really didn't know where we would be in the standings. Honda, they did an amazing job, but at the beginning of the year we were missing some performance. It wasn't easy. Since I arrived there I was thinking, 'However it goes, I need to make the best out of the situation, and I really need to push the team, I need to push the Honda guys.'
"Of course as a racer you want to go there and have the best results possible and fight for the wins. It took us some time to find out what was the best way to communicate, to set up the car properly for myself and improve the performance.
"All the work paid off and we won two races, and finished second in the last race we did. I really enjoyed it, it was an amazing experience."
He lost his shot at winning the title as a rookie when bad weather led to the final round being cancelled, but by then he had already been drafted into Toro Rosso, and was soon confirmed for a full-time seat for 2018.
Honda's arrival means that it will be a year of transition for everyone, but Gasly knows he has to keep impressing.
"I'm just really excited for the future because it will keep getting better. I want to be competitive, and if I'm not, I'm not happy.
"I know that if I work hard I will perform, I will be happy, Red Bull will be happy, Franz [Tost, Toro Rosso team boss] will be happy, and Helmut as well, and then the future will be bright and good. The main thing is just to focus on what's happening right now, and if I do well, everything will be fine."
Not so long ago, Pierre Gasly's long-term future in the Red Bull programme appeared to be in doubt. After a frustrating first season in GP2 in 2015, he had no obvious and immediate opportunities to move up to Formula 1 thanks to a logjam of talented drivers in the company's ranks - and the sudden arrival on the scene of a very talented Dutchman had closed one door on him.
"Max [Verstappen] came a bit from nowhere and took all the seats!" says Gasly with a smile. "For me at the time [F1] was a possibility, but after there were no opportunities with Max coming."
There was no option but to stick with Red Bull, knuckle down and prove himself all over again - which he did, making him a prime candidate when a position came up sooner than expected. Having won the 2016 GP2 title, and shone during his time 'on hold' in the Japanese Super Formula series last year, Gasly's star was on the ascent just as Red Bull's junior team found itself in need of drivers at short notice.
When Daniil Kvyat fell out of favour, and some political manoeuvring led to Carlos Sainz Jr being loaned out early to Renault, Gasly was handed his chance - and he ultimately did enough to guarantee a full time promotion for 2018.
"At the end of 2016, after the GP2 title, Red Bull told me' 'You are in the right place, but just the wrong time, and you will need to wait,'" Gasly recalls.
"In my mind I didn't want to think something's going to happen, I didn't want to have any expectations. I just wanted to do a good job, and I knew that at some point if you work really hard then it will pay off .
"I worked hard in Renault 2.0, I won the championship [Eurocup in 2013], I was second in [Formula Renault] 3.5, and I won GP2. At some point something needed to happen.
"I had the same approach: 'Focus on your Super Formula season and if you have a good season, then something will come'. It just arrived a bit earlier than I expected, so for me it's fantastic."
"The French racing federation had a school in Le Mans. Basically it was an old castle, and every morning there was a big fight to go in the shower first, because the first one had the hot water! It was a bit old-school"Pierre Gasly
Gasly hails from Rouen, an F1 venue long before he was born. As with so many drivers it was family involvement in motorsport - albeit at a modest level - that prompted his initial interest.
"My grandfather did karting, and my father did karting and some rally stages and national endurance races with a Peugeot 206. He was French champion, but he always kept it at national level. Then I have three older brothers, and they all raced in karting.
"Since I was two my mother always brought me to the go-kart races to support my brothers. Of course it's good to be supporting, but at some point I thought, 'Now I want some action,' and I actually wanted to drive. The first test I had was at six years old."
It all sounds so straightforward, but initially Gasly's parents were reluctant to see their third son follow the family passion.
"Basically I did the first test because I really pushed them, because I wanted to try. They knew it was an expensive sport to do. So with the experience of my three brothers, at the beginning they were not really keen for me to race in karting, because they knew it was quite expensive.
"And that's why for two years after my first test at six years old, I was just training. I wanted to do some competition, but they didn't really want it. And then they looked for some sponsors, and they found some. After that they said, 'OK now we can start,' and I started competition at nine."
He made quick progress, and at 13 he attracted the support of the French federation, which helped to provide a valuable grounding.
"They said they had put in place a school in Le Mans where you could go and study and also come every night to train, but you need to leave home, so it's your decision. I thought there are only 20 drivers in F1 - if you want to become an F1 driver you have to make sacrifices, and it has to start now. At 13 I went to this school.
"Basically it was an old castle, and every morning there was a big fight to go in the shower first, because the first one had the hot water! It was a bit old-school, but I keep really good memories from it.
"At the time people like Jean-Eric Vergne, Jules Bianchi and Adrien Tambay were the French team in single-seaters. The federation told me, 'Now it's time to switch to cars, and we'll support you.' Drivers were coming to cars really young, and it was, 'We think you have done enough karting, and it's the right time to switch.'"
He enjoyed a solid first season in the French Formula 4 championship in 2011, winning four races and finishing fourth in the championship. That attracted some initial support from Red Bull for his Formula Renault debut in 2012 (pictured below). It was a sort of provisional membership of the junior programme - if he did well, he'd get the full works the following year. But he managed only 10th place in the Eurocup.
"After that year in F4 I had an option contract with Red Bull, that's why at first I only had the [sponsored] helmet, but I wasn't fully in the programme. Then it didn't happen in the end. It was really tough, the first Renault season.
"Helmut Marko was really happy with my performance, my speed, but I always wanted to push more, and I made some mistakes. It was, 'You're fast, but you made too many mistakes, and you're not going to be in the programme next year.'
"Just at the end of my first year in Renault the director of the federation came to Abu Dhabi and said to Helmut, 'You know what, we'll come back next year with the Eurocup title, you're doing a mistake.' Then luckily we found one guy in Switzerland who said we're going to support you and pay for you, and I did another season in Renault 2.0."
It paid off: "I won the Eurocup, so I went back to Abu Dhabi [at the end of 2013] and saw Helmut. We told him, 'We told you last year that we'll come back with the title,' and he said, 'OK, now we do something,' and that's how I came into the programme."
Gasly moved up to FR3.5 for 2014, where despite failing to win a race in his rookie year he finished runner-up to fellow Red Bull man Sainz, who was propelled into Toro Rosso.
"He went straight to F1 after that. The year before he was in F3, but he also did a couple of races in 3.5. He had slightly more experience than me. In the end it was a good first season, I finished second. Stoffel [Vandoorne] also finished second in his first season."
Arguably Gasly was qualified to join Sainz at Toro Rosso - but Verstappen was already on board, and instead Gasly was placed in GP2 with DAMS in 2015. It was to be a difficult first year in the category.
"I think objectively it was a good year in terms of pace - qualifying-wise we were the second best behind Stoffel, with three pole positions - but in the races we were not fast with DAMS.
"So I had to change my driving style a little bit. Coming from 3.5 where you can push like an animal, to GP2 with the Pirellis, was really tough. I had some difficulties with the degradation. Also Alex Lynn coming from GP3 struggled a lot. I'm not sure that in the races we were as fast as in qualifying mode.
"In the end it's always in these difficult times that you learn the most. In the races we had a couple of podiums, but it was not the season I really wanted or wished for. In a way it helped me for the second year."
In 2016 everything came together and Gasly scored four wins to beat Prema team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi to the title.
"For me it was a great year. Qualifying was always good, and the races were always strong. Overall it was a much more difficult year than people might have thought.
"We had so many things go wrong, from a road car crash with my mother at Silverstone, to the extinguisher [going off and causing his exclusion] in Hockenheim when I finished third and I had to start last for the next race, to the safety car in Monza when I was leading and I lost the win because the stewards made a mistake. We could have won the championship one meeting before the end. But at least the championship was exciting, and it went until the last race."
He now had a stellar CV, but there was nowhere to go in Europe. Among the most compelling options was to follow the example of Vandoorne, who raced for a season in Japan before he slotted in at McLaren.
"In looking at the different options, to see that Stoffel went there and had a pretty good season and ended up with a McLaren drive, of course it helped us in the decision to go there."
It was a good decision. He proved to be very competitive, but as had been the case for several generations of visiting Europeans, the Japanese experience was as much about exploring life off the track as the racing on it.
"You find issues that you don't find in Europe, and you need to find solutions to make the best out of the situation. So in a way you're always thinking"Pierre Gasly on racing in Japan
"It's far from everything, so in all aspects it's a positive experience. They sent me there, I was on my own, with people I really didn't know.
"When I jumped in the plane I was, 'What will I discover, how's it going to be?' You find issues that you don't find in Europe, and you need to find solutions to make the best out of the situation. So in a way you're always thinking, and you are really involved in the performance with the team. It's a positive experience because you learn new things - you need to care about things that you don't in Europe.
"Honestly at the beginning of the season I really didn't know where we would be in the standings. Honda, they did an amazing job, but at the beginning of the year we were missing some performance. It wasn't easy. Since I arrived there I was thinking, 'However it goes, I need to make the best out of the situation, and I really need to push the team, I need to push the Honda guys.'
"Of course as a racer you want to go there and have the best results possible and fight for the wins. It took us some time to find out what was the best way to communicate, to set up the car properly for myself and improve the performance.
"All the work paid off and we won two races, and finished second in the last race we did. I really enjoyed it, it was an amazing experience."
He lost his shot at winning the title as a rookie when bad weather led to the final round being cancelled, but by then he had already been drafted into Toro Rosso, and was soon confirmed for a full-time seat for 2018.
Honda's arrival means that it will be a year of transition for everyone, but Gasly knows he has to keep impressing.
"I'm just really excited for the future because it will keep getting better. I want to be competitive, and if I'm not, I'm not happy.
"I know that if I work hard I will perform, I will be happy, Red Bull will be happy, Franz [Tost, Toro Rosso team boss] will be happy, and Helmut as well, and then the future will be bright and good. The main thing is just to focus on what's happening right now, and if I do well, everything will be fine."