These three factors made Gasly contracted by Alpine
General
- GPblog.com
Alpine would have preferred to continue with the current line-up next season, but that no longer proved a possibility when Fernando Alonso announced he would switch to Aston Martin. Then Oscar Piastri was the favourite with the French formation, but he too opted for another team with McLaren. Pierre Gasy was the number three, but Otmar Szafnauer is delighted with his arrival.
With the arrival of Gasly, Alpine will have an all-French line-up in 2023. In fact, Esteban Ocon's contract also continues. Speaking to Formula1.com that Alpine made its choice for Gasly based on three factors. There were several candidates who could succeed Alonso, but they did not meet the wish list as Gasly did.
Alpine looking for 2023 driver
"Well, as everyone knows, we had a seat available around the summer break, and then we started look around. The three things we wanted was naturally speed, a fast driver; one with experience; and also youth at the same time. Adding all three things up, there aren’t many people that have all that, and Pierre definitely does," Szafnauer said.
Bringing in Gasly was not a one-two punch, however, as the 26-year-old driver was still stuck with AlphaTauri. Alpine had several lines outstanding with other drivers and teams, 14 in total in fact, Szafnauer revealed in August. Names like Nyck de Vries, Nico Hulkenberg, Mick Schumacher and Theo Pourchaire (also a Frenchman) passed by.
Ricciardo and Alpine
Daniel Ricciardo was also mentioned. The Australian saw his contract at McLaren terminated early and between 2019 and 2020 he was relatively successful at Renault, Alpine's predecessor. When Szafnauer was asked if Ricciardo was ever seriously considered, he replied: "At the beginning we discussed with a few drivers, including Daniel, and Pierre meets the criteria that I said to a tee. He’s experienced, fast and young, so when it became evident that Pierre was a possibility, we made our shortlist even shorter," concludes the team principal, who seems to be saying that Ricciardo was not on the shortlist.