One of the more gratifying features of 1 April is watching people get caught out by April Fools’ announcements, particularly ones in the sporting world.
Some are outstanding. They bait a great many sports fans, only to find out that they were a perfectly executed joke, or that they were posted by a parody account.
Some are a little more obvious, and that was definitely the case in this particular instance.
In this particular joke, it was claimed that Manchester City footballer Kevin De Bruyne had been signed by AlphaTauri to partner Pierre Gasly for the 2022 Australian Grand Prix.
READ: ‘I was dying inside the car’: Gasly reveals he suffered from bizarre pain
Transfers came together with Pitstop on Instagram to photoshop the midfielder into an AlphaTauri race suit.
“DEAL DONE,” they captioned the post.
“Kevin De Bruyne has TERMINATED his Man City contract and signed for AlphaTauri F1 Team. He will partner Pierre Gasly next weekend in Australia… Good move for the Belgian?”
“Welcome Kevin,” replied Gasly with a laughing face emoji.
De Bruyne has won 15 professional trophies in a career that has previously seen him play for Genk, Wolfsburg and Chelsea.
Since signing for Man City in 2015, he has achieved nine major successes as well as two Community Shield trophies with the five-time Premier League Champions, amassing an astonishing 78 goals and over 100 assists in that time.
READ: ‘If there’s an opportunity, call me’: Hulkenberg ‘keen but not desperate’ for F1 return
Gasly’s AlphaTauri team have had mixed fortunes early doors in 2022.
They have scored points in each of the opening two rounds of the season, but reliability issues for the Frenchman in Bahrain and team-mate Yuki Tsunoda in Saudi Arabia have made for a relatively inconsistent beginning to the new era of Formula 1.
After the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Gasly revealed that he had suffered from intense physical pain in the closing stages.