Gasly would give up GP2 title shot for early F1 graduation

The Red Bull-backed Frenchman has asserted himself at the head of the GP2 championship standings with a third feature race win in the space of four rounds last weekend at Spa.

Having arrived in Belgium level with main rival Sergey Sirotkin, Gasly now leads his Prema teammate Antonio Giovinazzi by 17 points with three rounds of the series left to run.

However, amid Daniil Kvyat's continuing poor form in F1 in the aftermath of his early-season demotion from the senior Red Bull squad, Gasly says he would be prepared to make the step up before the end of 2016 – even if it means losing out on the GP2 title.

"When you get a call to go to F1, there is no way you're going to say no," Gasly told Motorsport.com. "You need to take it, it is the kind of chance you maybe get only once in your life.

"I see what is happening [in F1], and at some point you need to be selfish. At the moment in Red Bull there is only one seat available, which is Daniil's seat, so that's the one I want to take next year.

"The decision is in Red Bull's hands, so when they call you need to be ready and take the opportunity. Of course I'm ready and I have my phone in my pocket every second.

"Let's see what they're going to do for the rest of the year, and especially for next year."

Marko talks

Gasly also revealed he had spoken at length with Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko at Spa about the energy drink giant's 2017 plans, albeit without a "clear answer" for his future.

"I asked him [about F1] already on Friday," said Gasly. "I had a conversation with him, a long conversation. He asked me to win the race first, and that is what I did.

"At the moment there is no clear answer, and of course that's not what I expected. I did not expect him to say 'here is the contract, you can sign right now'.

"But, already, of course we are talking about it. Let's see."

Interview by Oleg Karpov