Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says the team “desperately” need Pierre Gasly to start performing better.

Gasly was lapped by team mate Max Verstappen again during yesterday’s Hungarian Grand Prix. He took the chequered flag sixth between Carlos Sainz Jnr’s McLaren and Kimi Raikkonen’s Sauber-run Alfa Romeo.

“It’s been been a frustrating weekend for Pierre,” said Horner. “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 try and help them achieve that is what we’ll do.”

Gasly’s absence from the sharp end of the field also reduced the team’s tactical options for protecting Verstappen from Lewis Hamilton in the race, said Horner.

“The problem is he’s not in the mix at all. So it’s not like if Lewis said he was going to come out you know behind him or anything like that. But today both Mercedes and Red Bull had ‘one-legged’ races with the team mates out of contention.”

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Red Bull are 44 points behind second-placed Ferrari in the constructors’ championship. Gasly has scored just 63 of their points to his team mate’s 181.

“Obviously not having two cars running at the front does hurt us,” said Horner. “Particularly in the constructors’ championship where we’ve scored the same amount of points as Ferrari today at a track we should have taken more out of them.”

Horner said Gasly needs to “take some time out during the summer break, reflect on the first half of the season and take the lesson from that into the second half of the year.

“It is vital for us, if we’re to stand any chance of catching Ferrari, that we have him finishing further ahead.”

Gasly’s performance in his first year at the team has raised questions over whether he will be retained. Horner said the team is not planning to replace him this season.

“Our intention is to leave in the car to the end of the year,” he said. “But we desperately need to see him realising more of the potential of the car.”

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2019 F1 season