After weeks of speculation and negotiations, on Saturday morning in Japan, during the European early morning, where Formula 1 is to contest the 18th round of the 2022 season, Alpine confirmed the signing of Pierre Gasly for 2023, as Substitute for Fernando Alonso.
The Frenchman will join the Enstone team after having been under the Red Bull umbrella for the past few years, five of them at the Grand Circus, and having signed a renewal with AlphaTauri for next season.
It was not easy for Alpine to gain Gasly’s services, since the structure of the energy drinks clearly said in a first meeting that they would release the Frenchman from his commitments as long as they found a replacement with guarantees.
Initially they focused on Colton Herta , an IndyCar driver, but that option was ruled out because the American did not have the super license. After that, after the great performance of Nyck de Vries in Monza when he replaced Alexander Albon at Williams at the last minute, one of those responsible for the project, Helmut Marko , noticed the Dutchman, and got him to be Yuki’s partner Tsunoda.
That paved the way for Gasly to finally reach Alpine, but the final stumbling block was the amount of money they had to pay the Austrians, £8.8m . , as reported by Sky Sports News .
Gasly wanted to thank Red Bull for letting him fly out of the nest and face his new stage with Alpine: “I must admit that I am very grateful to everyone involved, because everyone tried their best to achieve it.”
“On Red Bull’s part, Christian [Horner, team principal] and Helmut [Marko, advisor] understood how important, how big this opportunity was for me and my desire to go there to start this new adventure with Alpine,” he said. the 26-year-old driver to Sky Sports F1 .
“It’s a big change in my career. I close a chapter of nine years with Red Bull, having had many successes in lower categories, as well as my five years in Formula 1, my first victory, the podiums. I start a new chapter with Alpine, it’s a new beginning,” said the Frenchman.
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