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As well as the regular track walk on Thursday which allows drivers and their team to familiarise themselves with any changes to the circuit from the previous year, Gasly will also miss the FIA press conference in which he was due to appear.
It remains to be seen whether Gasly, who currently sits 14th in the drivers’ championship, will return in time to participate in the rest of the weekend.
Red Bull shares its reserve driver Sebastien Buemi with its junior team. Buemi last raced in Formula 1 in 2011 and since then has won the Formula E championship, taken four victories in the Le Mans 24 Hours and claimed the World Endurance Championship crown twice.
Alternatively AlphaTauri could enlist its reserve driver Liam Lawson, who is at Monza this weekend for the penultimate round of the Formula 2 season. Lawson is no longer in contention to beat runaway points leader Felipe Drugovich to the title.
While also holding the required number of superlicence points to make him eligible to race in Formula 1 if called for, Lawson also has direct driving experience in the team’s AT03 having taken part in first practice at the Belgian Grand Prix two weeks ago.
AlphaTauri is not expected not to make a decision on whether Gasly will participate this weekend before Friday morning. Under F1’s rules he may drive on Saturday even if he does not do so tomorrow.
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bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
8th September 2022, 11:31
Get well soon Pierre Gasss-leeee!
Buemi has obviously proven himself as a great driver, and I’m sure he’s done sim work, but it’d interesting to see how someone who didn’t even drive the previous generation of cars to this gets on.
I’m sure he’d do fine, but his last F1 car wouldn’t have even had the LED dash – let alone all the bells and whistles that come with it.
Equally I’d like to see how Liam gets on, but regardless it’s a pity for Pierre if he can’t compete.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
8th September 2022, 11:41
A quick Google tells me that the longest gap between F1 starts is held by Pete Lovely (me neither) at 8 years – so if it was Buemi he’d presumably take it off him.
anon
8th September 2022, 13:18
@bernasaurus Pete Lovely was a privateer who used the revenue from the VW dealerships he ran in the USA to take part in a handful of races in the 1960s and 1970s. I think he was more active in the USA’s SCCA Formula A championship, which allowed mixed grids of Formula 5000 and Formula 1 cars to compete – he tended to run former Lotus F1 cars in that series, particularly a Lotus 49B. In F1, he’s perhaps better known for the fact that, in the early 1970s, he competed with a peculiar car that comprised of the front end of a Lotus 69 Formula 2 car and the back end of a Lotus 49B Formula 1 car.
However, the site that tells you that it was Pete Lovely is incorrect – Pete Lovely had a gap of 8 years and 10 months between starts (the 1960 US GP and the 1969 Canadian GP), but there are two other drivers who had longer gaps in their careers.
Luca Badoer had a gap of 9 years, 9 months and 23 days between racing for Minardi in the 1999 Japanese GP and Ferrari in the 2009 European GP.
Jan Lammers, meanwhile, currently has the longest gap between races at 10 years, 3 months and 22 days between racing for the Theodore Racing Team in the 1982 Dutch GP and racing for March in the 1992 Japanese GP.
However, Jan Lammers did take part in qualifying for the British and French GP’s in 1982, but failed to qualify for those two races. If you therefore argue that the criteria should be expanded to include participating in a race weekend, even if they did not take part in the race, it would still be Jan Lammers, but the gap would then be “only” 10 years and 3 months between the 1982 French GP and the 1992 Japanese GP.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
8th September 2022, 14:33
Brilliant – thank you. Great detail. I always assumed it was Badoer who had the record. I guess it’s still up for grabs if Buemi does climb in. I wonder how many seats Red Bull / Alpha Tauri have made for Buemi over the years he’s been reserve that never got used? Or if they bothered.
Would they have made a mould for Liam at the start of the year?
someone or something
8th September 2022, 15:42
Looks like Google doesn’t quite know everything. Jan Lammers had a gap of over 10 years between the early part of his F1 career (last start in July 1982) and its brief resumption (October 1992).
someone or something
8th September 2022, 15:44
Ah, sorry – I must’ve opened this page a few hours ago and forgot to refresh it before replying.
Jere (@jerejj)
8th September 2022, 11:32
How long will Buemi keep doing reserve stuff with Red Bull alongside his FE & WEC campaigns?
He’s stayed as a reserve driver seemingly forever despite the redundancy over time.
I wonder if he even holds a valid SL these days.
Nevertheless, Gasly would get substituted by Lawson if necessary, but I’m sure he’ll be okay to drive.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
8th September 2022, 13:46
Great opportunity for anyone replacing Gasly. Especially on a track that suits that horrendously understeery car.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
8th September 2022, 16:06
Can’t they put Colton Herta in the car and get him one superlicence point?
Bruno Verrari
8th September 2022, 18:32
He’s racing in the season’s last Indycar race in Monterey, CA this weekend…only a 14-hour flight away.
JJ Lehto
9th September 2022, 11:00
Yeah, that’s a bit of a commute.
Although once the Indycar season is done, perhaps we may see Herta doing some FP1 sessions – assuming that Gasly to Alpine is a done deal and AT are deadset on having Herta replace him.