Christian Horner given food for thought over Max Verstappen partner - 'Deserves it'

Christian Horner has been given food for thought over Drivers' Championship holder Max Verstappen's partner in the future, with pundit Tom Coronel believing that former Red Bull driver Pierre Gasly deserves a return to the driving giants.

Gasly currently drives for Red Bull's sister team AlphaTuari, which was previously known as Toro Rosso until 2020.

The outfit was used as a team to develop the skills of promising drivers until they were ready to be promoted to Red Bull, with Max Verstappen, Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo all plying their trade there early in their careers.

It was the sister outfit that Gasly initially learned the ins and outs of Formula One before he was promoted to the Red Bull roster. However, after just 12 races, he was demoted back to the sister team after a spate of poor results, with his highest finish being fourth at the British Grand Prix.

But despite his poor start to life at Red Bull, he has done exceptionally well at AlphaTauri, finishing ninth overall and ending up on the podium in Azerbaijan last season - and Coronel believes he deserves a place alongside Verstappen in the forthcoming season.

"I think Pierre Gasly deserved it," Coronel told RacingNews365.com.

"Firstly because he comes from the Red Bull pool and secondly because he has shown that he has matured, his head has become stronger.

"His self-confidence is back. I would just put him next to it."

However, Coronel was less than impressed with Perez, who he believed had not done enough to warrant a place on Red Bull's team for the upcoming campaign.

Despite facing criticism from certain quarters, Red Bull decided to give Perez a one-year contract extension at the end of the last campaign.

"I expected a lot more from Perez last