2016 world champion, Nico Rosberg, would love to see Pierre Gasly race for Alpine next season, although he acknowledges that Otmar Szafnauer’s team would have to buy him out.
Reports from the Sports Rush indicate that Alpine and Red Bull have already come to an agreement as to how much the French side will pay in order to acquire the services of the 26-year-old.
Gasly has been at AlphaTauri since midway through 2019 when he returned to the Red Bull junior side under its Toro Rosso guise.
He had earned a move to the main fold for the start of that season, but he struggled to find his feet alongside Max Verstappen, so he was dropped back into the team with whom he races in 2018 and the back end of 2017.
READ: Nico Rosberg makes Lewis Hamilton comparison as Pierre Gasly set to join Alpine
Since then, the Rouen-born racer has earned three podiums, one of which being a famous victory at the 2020 Italian Grand Prix at Monza – where the circus travels to this weekend.
Gasly’s contract with both Red Bull and AlphaTauri expires at the end of next season, but there will not be a seat at the Milton Keynes-based team by then, because Sergio Perez is contracted until the end of 2024, while Verstappen is set to stay until the end of 2028.
Alpine have mismanaged their situation with Oscar Piastri and Fernando Alonso after telling them both that they wanted them for the future, while also affirming that their futures were contingent on each other.
All the while, they have had Esteban Ocon in the other seat, so their indecision as to they wanted moving forward has driven both Alonso and Piastri away.
The Spaniard will be moving to Aston Martin next season, while the reigning Formula 2 champion is off to McLaren to replace Daniel Ricciardo.
This leaves the Enstone side in need of a new driver next year, and they appear to have made Gasly their number one target.
They would need to pay a fee to release him from his current contract and, if they do, Rosberg sees it as the perfect fit.
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“For me, for Alpine, Gasly is the perfect choice, he has been performing so well, I think that would be a really strong line-up for them,” he told Sky Sports.
“Let’s see how much they have to pay Red Bull.”
Ricciardo had initially been tenuously linked with a return to the Alpine team he left at the end of 2020, and he is also rumoured to have held talks with Haas, where Mick Schumacher is out of contract at the end of this season.