Red Bull have confirmed Pierre Gasly will leave their junior team AlphaTauri at the end of the season, one year earlier than planned.
His destination is Alpine, where he will take the seat which Fernando Alonso is to vacate. Alpine’s new hire will form an all-French line-up with their current driver Esteban Ocon.Gasly began 2022 with two years left on his Red Bull contract, which kept him at AlphaTauri for this season. That initially left open which of Red Bull’s Formula 1 teams he would drive for the year after.
But Sergio Perez’s contract extension at Red Bull in May ended Gasly’s hopes of returning to the top team. Gasly drove alongside Max Verstappen during the first half of 2019 before he was demoted back to his current team.
Gasly’s future began to look less certain over the summer after Alonso confirmed his surprise move from Alpine to Aston Martin. That kickstarted the F1 ‘silly season’ and left Alpine searching for a driver to partner Ocon. Despite his Red Bull contract, Gasly emerged as the most likely candidate.
The change of teams begins a “new chapter in my Formula 1 career”, said Gasly. “Driving for a team that has French roots is something very special.
“I know the strengths of Alpine having raced against them over the past couple of years and, clearly, their progress and ambition is very impressive.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
He thanked Red Bull for their support. “This marks the end of our nine-year journey together,” he acknowledged. “It is thanks to their trust and support that I became a Formula 1 driver, and what we’ve achieved with Scuderia AlphaTauri over the last years has been very special.
“Looking ahead, I want to give the maximum and utilise all my experience to fight for podiums and ultimately contribute to Alpine’s fight for championships in the future.”
Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer thanks Red Bull for releasing Gasly and confirmed he has joined them on a multi-year deal. “I’m very happy that Pierre will be joining the team for 2023 and beyond,” he said. “He is already a proven talent within Formula 1, and we are looking forward to harnessing that within the team.
“Our team has several objectives for the coming seasons and I firmly believe our driver line-up is a great reflection of the team’s high ambitions. I trust Pierre and Esteban can, together, motivate the team to continue its progress towards these goals.”
Gasly, now 26, was signed to the Red Bull Junior Team after he won the 2013 Formula Renault Eurocup when he was 17. He spent two-and-a-half winless years in Formula Renault 3.5 and GP2 (now Formula 2) before a breakthrough in 2016 which resulted in winning the GP2 title.
But instead of moving him into F1, Red Bull placed Gasly in Japan’s Super Formula series and handed him a debut in Formula E. The team eventually gave Gasly his F1 break at Toro Rosso (now AlphaTauri) with a five-race spell at the end of 2017.
Besides his short-lived stint at Red Bull over the first 12 races of 2019, Gasly has been at the Faenza-based team ever since. He claimed his first F1 win with the team in the 2020 Italian Grand Prix.
View the current list of 2023 F1 drivers and teams
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2022 Japanese Grand Prix
- From F1 to Formula Ford, 2022 was the year of the championship anti-climax
- Suzuka points confusion didn’t take shine off title win – Verstappen
- FIA to publish findings of inquiry into use of crane during Japanese GP
- Does F1 only need slicks and wets? The case for dropping intermediate tyres
- Hamilton’s work ethic “has not changed at all” in face of difficult 2022 campaign
Derek Edwards
8th October 2022, 1:13
It will be interesting to see how this Gasly/Ocon pairing plays out. They have both been touted as red-hot talents at times and they have a win apiece, but I still doubt that either of them has the capacity, either as a driver or as a motivational force, to take Alpine to the sharp end of the field. This really looks like a holding pattern at best, and I really do wonder what Alpine are up to, having let two (probably) better drivers slip through their fingers.
The Dolphins
8th October 2022, 1:45
My count is 3: Alonso, Piastri, and Ricciardo
I hope Alpine and Pierre prove us wrong, however. I’m happy for Pierre since he did get some poor treatment at Red Bull, not really what he deserved.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
8th October 2022, 1:59
Gasly was terrible when he moved to red bull, he didn’t leave them any options.
Red Andy (@red-andy)
8th October 2022, 7:36
He wasn’t great, @esploratore1, but with hindsight he was no worse than Albon ended up being.
Yaru (@yaru)
8th October 2022, 2:13
Agreed, treated poorly by Red Bull.
HC
8th October 2022, 6:19
Prost will be loving it
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
8th October 2022, 8:24
It is going to play out that Ocon is significantly faster than Gasly. No contest.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
8th October 2022, 1:16
Seems a natural fit, he wasn’t going anywhere in the Red Bull programme. Does leave Danny Ricciardo without any real options now though – which seems a pity, but I can see Gasly doing something at Alpine, rather than being the perennial senior driver in a junior team as his trajectory seemed to be going.
Yaru (@yaru)
8th October 2022, 2:16
The problem might be the Ocon pairing. Gasly and him have……history together.
Jere (@jerejj)
8th October 2022, 5:31
@yaru Yes, but that was some 13 years ago & professionally, all drivers have to be able to work together with each other anyway.
HC
8th October 2022, 6:24
Could easily re-ignite. They have history together , both good and bad. They also have 1 win a piece. Who’s going to be first to get the second?
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
8th October 2022, 8:10
@jerejj yes, just like Ocon and Perez just had to be able to work together with each other anyway. :) we know how that worked out.
I think we are definitely in for some French fireworks, but time will prove me right or wrong.
Jack (@jackisthestig)
8th October 2022, 6:08
I’m quite keen to see how Ricciardo would get on over a few seasons at Williams. I’m not sure where the car fits in with the troubles he’s been having with the characteristics of the McLaren but if he can get stuck into developing the car and moving the team gradually forward along with Alex Albon surely that would be more appealing than retiring with a whimper at the end of this season.
Short Circuit (@jjohn)
8th October 2022, 11:41
@jackisthestig Dan has confirmed he is taking 2023 out as a driver at least.
Would have liked to see him do battle with a Williams car also.
Short Circuit (@jjohn)
8th October 2022, 11:52
@bernasaurus media here in Oz reporting Dan has decided to sit out 2023 as a driver at least.
Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
8th October 2022, 1:41
Finally, Alpine is going to have the much-coveted French market sewn up! 👍
The Dolphins
8th October 2022, 1:49
I truly don’t understand their obsession with having French drivers. They’ve doubled down on a country with a population of 65 million most of whom don’t care the slightest about F1. Logic states that a diversified lineup would bring in more money from more fans.
Yaru (@yaru)
8th October 2022, 2:15
I mean it’s not like they have a “No Non-French” driver policy or anything. They had Ricardo, they wanted Piastri, and they had Alonso.
Neil (@neilosjames)
8th October 2022, 3:02
As good as the main Red Bull team is, I’ll always be happy to see a driver escape Alpha Tauri for a (without any offence to them) proper team.
Jere (@jerejj)
8th October 2022, 5:22
As expected, although weird timing choice, given the time differences to Europe.
Sam
8th October 2022, 5:53
As an Alpine fan I cannot say this announcement gives me much enthusiasm. I mean, is Gasly an improvement on, say, Hulkenburg?
Gaspar Palagyi (@palagyi)
8th October 2022, 10:54
Sorry Sam, I accidentally clicked the report, there is nothing wrong with your comment! Please Keith, disregard it.
I wanted to reply to you that Gasly is definitely an improvement on Hulkenberg. Just think of the mental strength he showed pulling himself back together after his demotion, or look at what he extracted out of the 2020-2021 ATs, regularly quilafying those cars into positions they had no business to be. Hulkenberg is a safe, but rather uninspiring hand of cards with a vast amoun of experience but with waning relevancy.
MichaelN
8th October 2022, 14:42
If Gasly can get to grips with the car in a way that allows him to replicate his 2021 form, then definitely.
Hülkenberg is a nice guy, but he’s old hat having made his debut over a decade ago, done almost 200 races with few notable results.
x303 (@x303)
8th October 2022, 7:50
Good on Pierre for moving out of the RB sphere.
Let’s see next year, I suspect Alonso will regret moving to Aston Martin !
Electroball76
8th October 2022, 8:28
Alpaca my bags!
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
8th October 2022, 9:47
I hope Gasly does well at Alpine. AT have been a bit of a disappointment this year. Interestingly Sky have posted a graphic on socials which shows that Ocon and Gasly have almost identical records in F1.
For example, in F1 so far they have both raced just over 100 times and Ocon has 338 pts and Gasly 332.