09/04/2018
NEWS STORY
Having qualified an amazing sixth, Lewis Hamilton's grid penalty promoting him to fifth on the grid, Gasly went one better in the race, bringing the STR13 home in fourth.
Among the first to pay tribute to the youngster, who was contesting only his seventh Grand Prix, was Helmut Marko, the man behind Red Bull's driver programme and the man who essentially decides the fate of its various drivers… just ask Scott Speed or Brendon Hartley or...
"That made a man out of him," smiled the Austrian. "His reward is fourth place.
"All our drivers have a very good bonus system," he added. "This will more than please him.
"I didn't expect a fourth place that early," he admitted, "but it's a positive development. It was the target to challenge the midfield with this engine. Not here, but in the first half of the season."
"He controlled the race as if he had driven a hundred races in Formula One," added team boss Franz Tost. "It was extraordinary. It was a fantastic job today. I hope that this will only be the start."
"I'm still struggling to realise what's happened today," admitted the youngster, "because we never expected to finish fourth in our second race weekend with Toro Rosso-Honda. I don't actually know what to say, it's just unbelievable.
Referring to the Honda engine, ditched after three years of failure with McLaren (It's what Ron would have done!), which could only manage seventh and eighth, Gasly admitted: "They had a tough couple of years and it's a great way to motivate them and show them we need to keep pushing. To finish fourth in Formula One you need to have a good engine. So, the engine is good."
Teammate Brendon Hartley had an altogether tougher day courtesy of Sergio Perez.
Overtaken by the Mexican during the warm-up lap and failing to re-take the correct position saw the Kiwi hit with a penalty that demoted him from 13th to 17th in the finishing order having already received a 10s time penalty during the race for a clash with the Force India driver.
Check out our Sunday gallery from Bahrain, here.