Gasly says Verstappen the "perfect reference" for him

The French driver completed his first full campaign in the sport last year, racing for Honda-powered Toro Rosso, before he was promoted to Red Bull Racing for 2019 after Daniel Ricciardo decided to leave for Renault.

Although Red Bull is convinced Gasly will be able to perform, team boss Christian Horner admitted the promotion came "faster than we would have liked".

Gasly reckons racing alongside Verstappen, rated as one of the best drivers on the grid, will help him raise him game this season.

"I think Max at the moment, based on the performance he showed last year - it's difficult, you know, to compare with Lewis [Hamilton] or Seb [Vettel] - but he's clearly one of the best and most talented guys in the paddock at the moment," Gasly told Motorsport.com.

"So for me it's perfect to have a reference like him.

"I'm sure it's going to be useful for myself to keep learning in Formula 1 and achieve a better performance for myself and I always find it good to have a fast teammate because that's how you manage to extract the best of yourself as well, so."

Gasly, who last year scored a sensational fourth place in Bahrain as his best result in Formula 1 so far, believes his ability to qualify strongly will make his job easier when the racing begins next month.

"I think I'm a quite objective guy and I know when I do things right and when I do something wrong," he added.

"And then I always learn from these kind of situations.

"I always question myself about what can I do better to improve myself as a driver, to make the best of the package I have.

"And then after I believe that I have good speed, I'm able to extract everything over one lap, which is important in qualifying.

"We all know that if you have a good starting position, it makes the race a lot easier, and I think that's one of my strengths that I will have to try to make the best out with Red Bull if we have a good performance over one lap."