F1 News: Alpine reveals surprise role in Colton Herta Formula 1 talks
Alpine played a significant role in Colton Herta's talks with Red Bull, as the team looked to find AlphaTauri an adequate replacement for Pierre Gasly.
With Fernando Alonso leaving the team to sign with Aston Martin, the French squad was forced to improvise and complete its 2023 driver lineup with those available in the market.
Pierre Gasly quickly became Alpine's ideal candidate, but his contractual situation with AlphaTauri complicated his chances of making the switch.
Although Gasly's chances of being promoted to Red Bull seemed slim, the Austrian squad was unwilling to release the 26-year-old without compensation.
Not only did this move involve a financial sum from Alpine, but it required a driver of enough interest to Red Bull to occupy the AlphaTauri seat.
For some time, before the FIA superlicense became a limiting factor, Colton Herta was on Red Bull's radar as a strong candidate.
Although Nyck de Vries was eventually selected, Alpine's Otmar Szafnauer has (via gpfans) explained the process of encouraging talks between Herta and Red Bull:
"When I got to certain milestones, I would call Laurent [Rossi, Alpine CEO] and say, 'Look, this is what I've done. This is how far I've got.
"'I now have to go to America and talk to Bryan Herta about a release.'
"I went and had lunch with Bryan and Colton because the release was conditional upon them, Red Bull - and I get it - finding a replacement [for Pierre Gasly] they were happy with.
"Otherwise, they wouldn't have released him."
Alpine was in an extremely unenviable, somewhat embarrassing situation during the frantic activity of the driver market during the summer break.
Whilst they managed to construct a solid driver pairing from a difficult situation, Colton Herta's talks with Red Bull demonstrate how significantly the F1 market landscape was shaken this year.
With Andretti still pushing to enter Formula 1, there is still hope that talented drivers in the US - like Colton Herta - will have their chance.