The Formula 1 driver market was firmly kicked into gear earlier this month when Fernando Alonso announced that he would be leaving Alpine at the end of the 2022 season.
The two-time Formula 1 World Champion has signed a multi-year deal with Aston Martin, replacing the outgoing Sebastian Vettel, who has opted to retire at the end of the current year.
Oscar Piastri was expected to fill the vacancy at Alpine, until he rejected the drive through a public notice on social media.
The situation is set to be resolved at a Contract Recognition Board on Monday, after which Alpine will know if it has his services for 2023 or not.
But should it lose the Australian driver (likely to McLaren, with Daniel Ricciardo now confirmed to be leaving), where would Alpine look?
It has been linked with signing Ricciardo or Haas’ Mick Schumacher, but a report from Autosport suggests that AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly is a candidate for the seat.
Gasly is under contract at the Red Bull sister team until the end of 2023, after which it is widely expected that he would explore options outside the energy drink-backed outfit’s umbrella.
Gasly has long been linked with the Alpine squad given his French background, and reports now state that the Enstone-based squad is looking at the 26-year-old for next year.
The Frenchman has performed strongly for AlphaTauri ever since his demotion back to the team midway through the 2019 season, following a run of underwhelming results at Red Bull.
Should Red Bull allow Gasly to walk away from his deal early, it would see Alpine have an all-French line-up, with Esteban Ocon currently contracted until the conclusion of the 2024 campaign.
Herta in line for AlphaTauri F1 role?
Autosport also reports that should Gasly make the switch to Alpine, Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko could look to acquire IndyCar’s Colton Herta.
Herta has been heavily linked with a future F1 move in recent months, and is currently performing development duties for the McLaren team.
The young star races for Andretti Autosport in IndyCar, and has been listed as a prime candidate for an F1 seat if Andretti manages to form its own team on the grid, which it is currently intending to do.
Yuki Tsunoda currently occupies the other seat at AlphaTauri drive, however he is not yet signed up for the 2023 season.
Red Bull has several juniors currently competing in Formula 2 and Formula 3.
That would be an all-French team, then, but don’t Ocon and Gasly have a history of friction between them?
Gasly would be a fool to jump into that inferno.
Alpine would be insane to not go back to Daniel. The Enstone team knows how to maximise DR performance in their car, and they would greatly increase their chances of getting podiums with DR. If they want Gasly they should bring him to Alpine to replace Ocon (who is loyal but slow) or when there is reg & engine change in 2026.
Having DR driving around England, France and Monaco in an Alpine will great increase the number of sales of that car marque in Europe and other relevant markets. The value of merchandise sales and brand value lift with DR at Alpine, would pay Daniel’s wage easily, but the added bonus will be McLaren will have to defend why they are paying DR to beat McLaren…watching Zac Brown defend that accusation will be very entertaining to watch.
His lack of performance at McLaren has nothing to do with skill, declining enthusiasm or “mojo”. The McLaren car is appalling bad car, its so crappy that Lewis Hamilton, Sergio Perez, Kevin Magnussen, Jason Button, Carlos Sainz, Stoffel Vandoorne, Alonso Fernando and Lando Norris have been unable to win a race in since 2012.
Daniel is the only driver to have won a race at McLaren. There has been way too many explainable faults in DR’s McLaren car, which should be called sabotaging his ride not a fault. Not putting a SPA rear wing is INEXCUSABLE! placing Hards on Hungary (esp after ferrari removed theirs) was astoundingly dumb.
Ordering Daniel to sit behind Lando on 8 occasions is also inexcusable. Lando’s car is engineered differently to Daniel’s as well
Alpine has a window over the next two year to win races, Daniel is their very best option to win races and podiums and the person who is best to push Ocon to new heights. Having Mick Schumi there is not a good thing for the team performance, as he won’t push Ocon (hence why he wants him in the team).
Alpine can go for its all French team in 2026, with out wins it would be hard for Luca De Mao to justify investing to two average F1 drivers side by side
Might be okay for Alpine, but it would be silly for Ricciardo, who would be much better advised getting himself into a Williams, which is a team moving forward under an an excellent team principal, and where he would work with Alex Albon, a fellow graduate of the Red Bull Academy, and also knows the value of hardwork and teamwork. Something is stinking out the place at Alpine, Alonso and Piastri both exited without either being pushed or letting the door hit their behinds on the way out. That should be a warning sign to any driver with a grain of ambition.