Christian Horner has revealed that 'media scrutiny' played a significant part in Pierre Gasly’s demotion from Red Bull to Toro Rosso after the 2019 summer break – but said that the switch has given Gasly a confidence boost.

The Red Bull Team Principal made the comments before Gasly scored his first F1 career podium in last weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix for Toro Rosso, having out-dragged Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton to the line for second place.

With Red Bull, Gasly was out-qualified and out-raced 11 to 1 by team mate Max Verstappen, who scored 181 points to the Frenchman’s 63. He was moved back to Toro Rosso before the Belgian Grand Prix, as Red Bull replaced him with rookie Alex Albon.

LONG READ: The Rise, Fall and Redemption of Pierre Gasly

“Obviously we felt that with the pressure building on him, the public pressure, the media scrutiny, it was right to remove him from that and put him into the slightly less pressured environment of Toro Rosso,” explained Horner.