Formula 1: Pierre Gasly tipped to replace Daniel Ricciardo at Red Bull Racing in 2019

Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly has been tipped to replace Daniel Ricciardo at Red Bull Racing starting in the 2019 Formula 1 season.

Last week, Aston Martin Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner revealed that the decision in regard to who the team’s second driver would be in the 2019 Formula 1 season alongside Max Verstappen was likely down to two drivers.

Whoever that driver ends up being will be the replacement for Daniel Ricciardo, who shockingly signed a two-year contract almost two weeks ago to drive for Renault Sport beginning next season.

The two drivers who this decision was reportedly down to were Renault’s Carlos Sainz Jr., the driver who Ricciardo is set to replace alongside Nico Hulkenberg starting in 2019, and Scuderia Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly.

Sainz Jr., the 23-year-old Spaniard who drove for Toro Rosso, the Red Bull Racing junior team, in the 2015 and 2016 seasons and for much of the 2017 season before he was loaned to Renault, was still technically a Red Bull Racing driver since he was only loaned to Renault, so it would have made sense for Red Bull Racing to sign him, effectively meaning he and Ricciardo would swap seats.

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However, shortly after two-time Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso announced that he will be retiring from Formula 1 after the 2018 season comes to an end, it was revealed that McLaren, the team for which Alonso currently drives, are set to announcement Sainz Jr. as the replacement for the 37-year-old Spaniard starting next season.

This means that Gasly is now the overwhelming favorite to replace Ricciardo at Red Bull Racing beginning next year, and an official announcement confirming this move is expected to come in the very near future.

Gasly made his Formula 1 debut last season as the replacement for Daniil Kvyat at Toro Rosso. Kvyat missed five of the season’s final six races, and the 22-year-old Frenchman was his replacement in each of them.

So far this season, which is Gasly’s first full-time Formula 1 season, he has been impressive. He has outscored teammate Brendon Hartley, who also made his Formula 1 debut toward the end of last season, by 24 points (26 to 2) through the season’s first 12 races.

Gasly finished in a career-high fourth, seventh and sixth place in the Bahrain Grand Prix, the Monaco Grand Prix and the Hungarian Grand Prix this season. He currently sits in 13th in the driver standings. Meanwhile, Hartley currently sits down in 19th in the standings with top finishes of 10th in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and the German Grand Prix.

Barring a shocking move involving Red Bull Racing signing Alfa Romeo Sauber rookie Charles Leclerc, Gasly appears to be in a position to end up as Ricciardo’s replacement, and the Milton Keynes-based team signing anybody else to replace the 29-year-old Australian at this point would be shocking.

Will Pierre Gasly end up replacing Daniel Ricciardo at Red Bull Racing in the 2019 Formula 1 season and become a teammate to Max Verstappen like he has been tipped to do? If this surprisingly does not end up being the case, who might Red Bull Racing sign?