Alpine’s quest to complete their 2023 driver lineup was far from a simple one, as the team were hit with unexpected obstacles along the way.
Over the summer break, the team were rocked by Fernando Alonso’s announcement that he would be joining Aston Martin in 2023 to replace the retiring Sebastian Vettel.
The team’s first choice of replacement was their academy driver Oscar Piastri, who had been tipped as a star of Alpine’s future after coming though their youth system.
The young Australian stunning rejected the teams advances and was allowed to join McLaren after a hearing with the Contract Recognition Board, forcing Alpine to frustratingly look elsewhere.
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The French team eventually managed to negotiate a reasonable fee with Red Bull and AlphaTauri for Pierre Gasly’s release, with his currently employers not wanting to stand in the way of their driver’s dream move further up the grid.
Like his new partner at Alpine Esteban Ocon, Gasly has impressed during his time in Formula 1, overperforming at times with AlphaTauri and even picking up a shock race win at the 2020 Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi has now outlined his expectations for his new signing, expecting Gasly to hit the ground running in 2023.
“Hopefully he’s going to bring what we need, which is to continue developing the car, because at the moment, we are still pretty much in the midfield, and we need to take the car a notch up,” he said to the Formula 1 official website.
“For that, you need drivers that are not only capable only to go fast and score points with the potential the car gives us, but also to take it to the next level.
“That means that you need to, as of Friday morning, be able to give feedback to the team and take the whole team in the right direction so the car improves – that’s what Pierre, we hope, is going to bring.
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“I mean, he was the technical leader in many ways, I guess, at AlphaTauri. We want him to continue doing that, grow the team, grow himself with us and take us to a new level.”
Former French F1 driver Romain Grosjean has explained that it could all go wrong with an all-French lineup at Alpine this season, as both drivers look to assert themselves as the number one driver at the French team.
Despite having their issues in the past, both Gasly and Ocon have explained that they are confident of building a strong relationship at Alpine, as both drivers look to become regulars of the podium.