Antonio Giovinazzi is already at the Hungaroring: the Italian has already had his first contact with the Alpine engineers and tomorrow, Tuesday, September 20, he will be the first of the three drivers invited to Hungary by the Enstone team to get on the A521.
The only objective of this comparative test is for the French manufacturer to be able to choose who will be Esteban Ocon’s partner next season, although some of the possible candidates, such as Pierre Gasly or Mick Schumacher, will not be present.
In this way, Giovinazzi will drive the car of the French team last year, which Oscar Piastri also tested before the “betrayal” at the beginning of August, while on Wednesday it will be the turn of Nyck de Vries, who raised the interest of several teams after his great debut at Monza with Williams as a substitute for Alexander Albon.
On Thursday, when the third and final day of testing will take place, it will be attended by the Formula 2 driver, Jack Doohan, son of the five-time world motorcycling champion, who joined the Alpine Academy this year, after growing up in the Red Bull Junior Team.
Colton Herta was the other driver who promised to carry out this test, but he gave it up knowing that the FIA would not grant him the super license to be able to take the step to the highest category of motorsport in 2023.
Three drivers, therefore, will compete this week for the chance to win a seat for next season at the Enstone team, which currently occupies fourth position in the constructors’ standings, just behind Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes. .
After the ‘flight’ of Fernando Alonso to Aston Martin and the signing of Oscar Piastri by McLaren, the Frenchmen must close their line-up for 2023 as soon as possible. But will the test really be key, or will everything be decided if De Vries is signed by AlphaTauri, freeing Pierre Gasly to go to Alpine?
As for the three leading drivers in this private test, Giovinazzi at the moment seems to have three doors open to return to Formula 1, while Haas and Williams are also interested in his services.
In a similar situation is Nyck De Vries , as beyond Alpine, two other teams have his name listed on their list of driver candidates for a seat in 2023: Williams and AlphaTauri.
For his part, the situation of Jack Doohan is a little different, since if he does not get that seat, his options are to compete another year in Formula 2.
