Pierre Gasly will be moving to Alpine next season and Nyck de Vries will be taking the Frenchman’s place at AlphaTauri, according to reports.
However, fireworks could be set off at the Alpine F1 Team following a shocking revelation revealed by ex-F1 driver Ralf Schumacher.
Whilst it’s been believed for many weeks, Canal Plus announced that Gasly’s expected move to Alpine will be announced shortly, with some expecting the announcement to be made at this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix.
Two French drivers at the French team sounds like a combination only made in heaven, but it’s safe to say Esteban Ocon won’t agree.
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It’s been known for a little while that Gasly and Ocon don’t get on, with Ocon having even pushed Alpine’s bosses to consider signing the under-pressure Mick Schumacher.
Ocon and Schumacher are very good friends, as were Ocon and Gasly; however, they are now somewhat rivals.
Gasly was asked why himself and Ocon don’t get on back in 2018, where he explained that the former friends went their separate ways after the AlphaTauri driver “started to beat” the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix winner.
“I started to beat him and he didn’t like it so we’re not friends any more,” Gasly said as quoted by RaceFans in 2018.
“We’ve spent a lot of time together but it got to a point where he got a bit too upset and it wasn’t so nice any more. So we kind of stopped [socialising].
“Then after we always [had] quite a lot of rivalry. I think we respect each other as drivers. If we don’t talk about racing it’s fine. We can spend time together, we respect each other, it doesn’t go further than that.”
Whilst there is nothing to say that what Gasly said in 2018 was a lie, Schumacher oddly revealed on Live TV that the pair fell out after Gasly ‘stole’ Ocon’s girlfriend.
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Given the fact that his nephew is very close friends with Ocon, perhaps the Frenchman told the Haas driver about why he doesn’t get on with Gasly.
Given their history, the ex-F1 driver expects a fiery relationship between the pair at Enstone next season.
There is no way to know whether what the Sky Germany pundit said was true or not; unless one of the drivers reveals it to the world, the odds on that happening, though, are probably very slim.