Red Bull’s current hostage situation has taken a turn for the worse. High profile, long-term hostage Piere Gasly is showing signs that he is suffering from the effects of the so-called Stockholm Syndrome. The condition occurs when the hostage develops a psychological bond with the person(s) holding them captive. Gasly’s captors are Red Bull, the Frenchman continues to hold onto the slim possibility that one day the Red Bull seat currently occupied by Sergio Perez will be vacated. And when it is, Gasly will resume his rightful place in the Red Bull pecking order.

It is common for hostages such as Pierre Gasly to use imagination as an outlet during periods of captivity. Such a situation imagined by Gasly will never happen. Mad Dog Helmut Marko is seeking to find a way to end the hostage situation that has held Gasly captive in the Red Bull driver development program. Gasly currently drives for Red Bull B-squad Alpha Tauri having been demoted from the Red Bull senior squad. Nevertheless, he went on to win the 2020 Italian Grand Prix for Alpha Tauri and many thought this would bring an end to the hostage crisis. That Gasly would leave and make a bid for freedom. But the opposite happened, Gasly saw the win as a means of prolonging his captivity, to get back into the Red Bull seat.

But it doesn’t quite work like that at Red Bull, camp commandant Mad Dog Marko is as tough as they get. And in his typical no-nonsense way, he outlined how he plans to end the Gasly hostage crisis that he has fermented.

Mad Dog Marko:

“We are looking at his progress, and in the next two years we will make a decision whether he’ll be on the free market or whether we’ll take him into Red Bull.”

“He is driving at his best, but being number one in a very good B-team is a very different story to being number two to Max Verstappen at a top team,”

“We have two Formula 1 teams as everyone knows and we are putting quite a lot of effort in our brand, AlphaTauri, fashion brand, and we need a strong leader there.”

In this case, the problem isn’t with the captors (Red Bull) the problem lies with Gasly. He wants to continue his captivity under the Red Bull umbrella in the outside chance of re-joining the Max Verstappen team. But it seems Mad Dog Marko values Gasly for his marketability as a fashion brand rather than a driver.

If Gasly can find an escape route then he should take whatever means possible to make a bid for freedom. Dig a tunnel, jump onto a moving furniture van anything to escape. But as far as we can tell he (Gasly) is suffering from the Stockholm Syndrome.