When it was announced that Alpine had managed to pry Pierre Gasly away from AlphaTauri and the Red Bull system, the future instantly became phenomenally exciting for the team.
Gasly is a driver who has the perfect blend of experience with top team such as Red Bull and potential to grow at only the age of 27.
Like his teammate Esteban Ocon, Gasly has already picked up a shock win in his career, with Gasly’s glory coming in Monza back in 2020.
Alpine have previously suggested that they would be looking to their new signing as somewhat of a leader and engineering expert, with his understand of an F1 car being much more advanced than some other drivers on the grid.
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With the A523 now having been shown off to the world for the first time, Alpine technical director Matt Harman has admitted that Gasly has had an influence on the car despite his short time with the team.
“He’s had some influence since his arrival,” Harman told PlanetF1.com.
“Obviously, we’ve had to make sure that he’s comfortable in the car and he’s got all the controls and systems that he needs, but he’s given us some great feedback.
“He’s given us some things to think about in the development of the car. He’s a good engineer as well as a driver and I think that comes across in the conversations I’ve had so far.
“At the moment, after the filming days, he was very happy. He’s very comfortable with the car, he likes the behaviour and current characteristics so let’s hope we can build on that.”
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Gasly was severely limited by his machinery last season, as AlphaTauri tumbled down the championship table under the new regulations.
At Alpine however, it seems that the only way is up as the team continue to improve in F1, having finished as the best of the rest team last year, leapfrogging McLaren from the year before.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has namedropped Alpine as one of the teams he expects to step up and enter the podium places more often this year, with Aston Martin and McLaren also on Horner’s radar.