AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly has confirmed that he intends to see out the rest of his contract with them and Red Bull despite rumours linking him with Alpine.
Gasly had a contract with the Red Bull programme that saw him remain as part of their system until the end of 2023, but he recently signed a contract keeping him with the Faenza-based squad.
His contracts with both entities now run out at the end of 2023, but there were suggestions that he might try and wriggle free.
Fernando Alonso has been confirmed as Sebastian Vettel’s replacement at Aston Martin next season when the German retires at the end of 2022.
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The French team then announced that reserve driver Oscar Piastri would be filling the 41-year-old’s shoes, but he has rebelled against them.
The Enstone team had taken longer than Alonso and Piastri wanted to sort their respective futures, so the former struck a deal with Lawrence Stroll to drive for him, while the young Australian is thought to have made an agreement with McLaren.
This would leave a seat free at Alpine, with Daniel Ricciardo likely swapping with his compatriot and returning to Alpine, whom he left at the end of 2020.
One of the potential candidates is Gasly, but he is contracted to AlphaTauri next season, making team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, Haas’ Mick Schumacher and Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu more likely options, as none of them have a deal for the next campaign.
Gasly’s hopes at a Red Bull seat for the next two seasons were dashed when Sergio Perez re-signed until 2024, but he intends to honour the agreement and stay with the junior side for the duration of his contract.
“I still have a year left on my contract with [Red Bull and AlphaTauri],” he told Motorsport.com.
“I think there were a lot of rumours around my name because Red Bull had not yet announced clearly what was planned with me, at least I think so.
“Once Perez was signed they wanted me to stay here where I am, and we will go on until my contract expires.”
Gasly suffered an awful time of it in 2019 when he was initially promoted to the main fold, and his half season alongside Max Verstappen was a miserable one before he was demoted back to Toro Rosso – now AlphaTauri.
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However, the 26-year-old believes he has grown stronger since then, evidenced by his win and three podiums with the Italian squad.
“If I think about it now, after five years in Formula 1, I am a much more complete driver,” added Gasly.
“I think I have shown that with a mid-table car I have been able to grow and achieve good results, and with all the respect I have for AlphaTauri, there will always be a gap to a top team.
“We can achieve a podium, even a win we have shown that it is not impossible, there was a one per cent chance and we did it.”
Red Bull adviser Dr Helmut Marko recently affirmed that there is “no exit clause” for Gasly, ruling him out of contention for the Alpine seat.