Pierre Gasly thought his Red Bull seat was safe

Pierre Gasly has admitted news of his Red Bull demotion came as a "shock".

The Frenchman has swapped seats with Alex Albon for the rest of the 2019 season, with Gasly returning to Toro Rosso, Red Bull's junior team, where he raced in 2017-2018.

While Gasly's future had been the subject of increasing media speculation amid a tough start to the season next to Max Verstappen, the 23-year-old has suggested he was led to believe his seat was safe.

"It was kind of a shock and I'm disappointed because it's not what I had been told before, also after, Budapest," Gasly told reporters on his first public appearance since the news, on the opening day of the Belgian GP.

Asked in a separate Sky Sports F1 interview if Red Bull had told him he was secure, Gasly replied: "Yeah, the same thing as you heard. Same thing as they said. There wasn't any kind of warning, so I was disappointed when I got the news."

How did Gasly find out?
Red Bull announced their driver change eight days after a Hungarian GP in which Gasly finished a lapped sixth on a weekend team-mate Verstappen claimed pole position and battled Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton for the victory.

Gasly revealed the precise time he received the call from Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko to tell him the news - 8.42am - on the morning of the announcement.

The team's decision ended what turned out to be a brief 12-race, eight-month stay at the senior Red Bull team for the 23-year-old, who replaced Daniel Ricciardo at the start of the year.

"There were things I could have done better and I take part of the responsibility for the lack of pace and points we had. But I think we were all responsible of this lack of performance as well," said Gasly, who failed to finish on the podium.

"In the end there were some valuable lessons learned. Now I need to move on and focus on what I can change, which is Toro Rosso and the next nine races."

Elaborating on his spell at Milton Keynes, Gasly added: "Overall there were many things going in right way even though we still had a few issues. I think it would have gone better but there's no point to really talk about it."

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