Pierre Gasly has been considered to join Alpine

In the absence of official announcement, the unfolding Alpine-gate is currently all about speculation. Since Oscar Piastri announced that he will not race for Alpine next year, there has been silence from the sides involved. Negotiations about the future are certainly ongoing in the background. The French team lost Fernando Alonso and Piastri as possible drivers for 2023 - they practically lost their best and clearest options. Whoever will be Ocon's teammate in the end will not be the most ideal, but rather the result of a forced decision. At the moment, however, only rumors and ideas can be reported.

Gasly’s season so far

The fact that the French driver wants to switch is not surprising. He had already spent too much time at Alpha Tauri. After recovering mentally from the Red Bull debacle, it became clear that he was meant to be more than the number one driver of an unbalanced midfield team.

How much he wants to leave his current team has already been proven this year.  When the news first broke during the season that McLaren would fire Daniel Riccardo at the end of the year, Gasly signed up to take his place. They would have welcomed him, but his relationship with Red Bull complicated the situation.  He presented his plan to his bosses, which looked like that the team would let him go on loan, but the partnership would remain, following the example of Alex Albon. However, the plan was vetoed and soon it was officially announced that he would be staying with the team.

Pros and cons 

Although there is no unbreakable contract, this seems to be the biggest drawback to joining Alpine. It is unlikely that his team would let him go if they did not let him join McLaren. However, an even bigger question is whether Gasly wants all of this at all. The emerging French driver line-up would be far from ideal. The reason for this is that Gasly and Ocon are among the few drivers who do not like each other.

From Alpine's point of view, however, this line-up would be almost perfect, mostly due to marketing; the French team with two French drivers. In addition, the development of the team may be attractive to Gasly, so it would be a step forward for him.

If this change does not succeed for him, then he is forced to wait for a while longer, for a possible even better offer, and for his bosses to relent and let him go.