Jean-Eric Vergne has urged Pierre Gasly to cut ties with Red Bull and join Alpine.
It has been widely expected that Gasly will remain at AlphaTauri next season with Helmut Marko suggesting there’s no early exit clause in his contract with Red Bull.
However, recent reports have suggested that Alpine are looking to sign him as Fernando Alonso’s replacement for the 2023 campaign, and it looks like it could happen.
Marko has suggested that he’d be open to letting the Frenchman go amid talk that he’d like to give the seat alongside Yuki Tsunoda to Mick Schumacher.
READ: ‘It’s no secret’: Alpine warned Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly line-up could create problems
Former Red Bull academy member and Toro Rosso driver Vergne says his compatriot should jump at the chance to make such a move.
“I really like Pierre, and know him quite well,” the two-time Formula E champion said on Sky Sports’ Any Driven Monday.
“I think what he has shown over the past two years has been nothing but impressive and… there is no room for him at Red Bull, he has to move away at some point to start using his own wings to fly.
“I think Alpine could be the right team for him.”
One issue with Gasly joining Alpine is the fact that he doesn’t have a particularly good relationship with Esteban Ocon.
The two are said to have fallen out when they were younger and the bad blood between them has remained ever since.
Ocon himself has said he wouldn’t mind being team-mates with Gasly nonetheless, although he did say his preferred one would be Mick Schumacher.
Vergne doesn’t see the issue as a dealbreaker, feeling the team and the two drivers can make things work.
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“I’m not sure he is best friends with Esteban Ocon but that’s okay,” he said.
“At the end of the day you are a professional driver, you are paid by a team, you represent the brand and at the end of the day you are racing for yourself.
“I’m pretty sure the team can handle two French drivers even if apparently they don’t like each other so much but water under the bridge, a lot of things happen.
“You race for a team but you also race for yourself, and I’m sure they understand that and it is what it is. “They can make the best out of it.”
Daniel Ricciardo is the other driver being linked with the vacant Alpine seat, but right now Gasly looks like the most likely option.