Alpine have reportedly paid a sum of $10 million to Red Bull to buy Pierre Gasly out of his existing contract.
Earlier this year, Alpine lost out on Fernando Alonso who revealed he would be joining Aston Martin at the end of the season. To add salt to the wound, their junior driver Oscar Piastri too snubbed Alpine in favor of a McLaren seat for 2023.
The French outfit took time, assessed their options, and decided that signing Gasly would be best for them. His move to Enstone was made official earlier this week, and he will team up alongside compatriot Esteban Ocon from next year onwards.
Gasly has been involved in the Red Bull ranks throughout his career, and a contract with their sister team AlphaTauri that ran until the end of the 2023 season. Alpine signing him in the middle of his contract meant that they had to pay Red Bull a certain amount of money.
According to Sky Sports, Alpine paid the Milton-Keynes-based outfit a sum of $10 million to secure the services of their academy talent.
Will Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon get along at Alpine?
Gasly and Ocon were great friends when they were kids and even their families were very close. However, as they grew up and slowly ventured into the world of F1, the relationship between them soured. They have repeatedly insisted that they aren’t friends anymore, and some feel that this may spoil the environment at Alpine.
Team principal Otmar Szafnauer, however, isn’t concerned about it. The 58-year-old revealed that he talked with both drivers before the move was made official and that they’re both okay with it. On top of that, the fact that they know each other for such a long time is something that he wants to take into account.
“They’re professionals,” said Szafnauer. “And they have no issue working together. And hopefully, the friendship will rekindle. They were friends at one point. But from a professional perspective, they’re both very happy to work with each other.”
Mercedes reserve joins Red Bull academy to replace Gasly
Nyck de Vries has been a reserve driver for Mercedes for the past two seasons. The 2019 F2 Champion was always a very talented prospect, but never got his lucky break in F1. This September, however, he finally showed how good he can be when he stood in for Alex Albon at the Italian GP.
In just his first F1 race with Williams, he managed a P9 finish. This was very impressive, especially because he didn’t get a lot of time to prepare for the weekend. His performances also caught the eye of several teams on the grid, and one of them was Mercedes’ arch rivals, Red Bull.
Red Bull themselves didn’t have a spot available. However, with Pierre Gasly leaving for Alpine, they thought it would be perfect for De Vries to join AlphaTauri as his replacement.
Now that De Vries’ move is confirmed, only Haas and Williams are yet to announce their driver lineups for the 2023 campaign.
