'Gasly in talks with Alpine for 2022 seat, Ocon under heavy pressure'

Rumors

23 March 2021 at 09:11
Last update 23 March 2021 at 10:25
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  • GPblog.com

Pierre Gasly has long been linked with a switch to Renault, which will race under the Alpine name in 2021. Now, however, there seem to have been talks between the Frenchman and the team for a seat in 2022.

Gasly has been through quite a bit in the meantime. After his Formula 2 title, he had to wait another year for his debut in Formula 1, but with a second place in Super Formula, he was finally allowed to join Toro Rosso at the end of 2017. There he impressed, especially in his first full season in 2018.

The rise of Gasly

That good season was immediately rewarded with a seat at Red Bull Racing in 2019. Daniel Ricciardo suddenly left for Renault and Red Bull had to absorb that quickly. However, Gasly proved not good enough in 2019 and was relegated after just six months. Despite a podium in 2019 and a win in 2020, he was not considered by Helmut Marko for a seat at Red Bull Racing for 2021.

Gasly was supposed to become AlphaTauri's new front-runner, but that's not what Gasly is in Formula One for. The Frenchman wants to win world titles and, with the arrival of Sergio Perez and Yuki Tsunoda, doesn't seem like the man Red Bull will bring to the first team. Gasly therefore looks further, and takes a leaf out of Daniel Ricciardo and Carlos Sainz's book.

There have been rumours about Gasly's possible switch for some time, but for now he is still stuck with Red Bull's project. Only when Marko lets go of him will he be able to make the switch. Nevertheless, according to F1 Paddock Employee's Twitter channel, there have been talks between Gasly and Alpine about a seat for 2022.

Pressure on Ocon

It's not a crazy thought. Alpine is a French team and Esteban Ocon' s performance in 2020 has not been up to scratch. Ocon's contract also expires at the end of this year, so Alpine will look at the possibilities. Gasly is a candidate, but also the own juniors Guanyu Zhou, Christian Lundgaard and Oscar Piastri will hope for that seat.

However, it is and remains a rumour. F1 Paddock Employee is a channel that has been reporting things that are true before, but it has also been wrong on occasion. Dutch Formula 1 journalist Louis Dekker can believe the rumours though. He states that Gasly 'even talked last year and Ocon is definitely under pressure'.