F1 News: Pierre Gasly On Leaving Red Bull Family - "I Knew It Wasn't Going To Be Easy"
Pierre Gasly has spoken about how his deal with Alpine happened in the 2022 F1 summer break.
Gasly made his F1 debut in 2017 with Toro Rosso (now AlphaTauri) and was then promoted to drive for Red Bull in 2019. However, he was not able to show the performance needed to stay in the team and was quickly put back in Toro Rosso, where he has driven since under the AlphaTauri name.
It was revealed during the 2022 season that Gasly had decided to leave the Red Bull family and was moving to Alpine for the 2023 season.
In an interview with Auto Motor Und Sport, Gasly explained how the talks with Alpine came about. He explained:
“I was in Greece on the first day of summer vacation.
“I needed a break because the season was not going my way. I needed to switch off.
"On the first day, I had my first contact with Alpine, at that time to Laurent Rossi [Alpine F1 CEO]. I passed everything on to my management.
"The talks started between Alpine, Red Bull and myself. We sounded out what could become of it."
The Frenchman continued:
“A summer in which I wanted to switch off turned into the opposite. I was in contact with Formula 1 practically every day, and followed everything – what the situation was, and how the deal was developing.
“As it got closer, it was about the terms of the contract. I knew, of course, Red Bull’s position on wanting to keep me.
“So I knew it wasn’t going to be easy talks with Helmut [Marko]. But he understood how important this step was for me. Then we made it work. It was a win-win deal for everyone.”
AlphaTauri had been happy to let Gasly go so long as they could get a good replacement for him. Former Mercedes reserve driver and Formula E champion Nyck De Vries then made his F1 debut stepping in for Alex Albon in the Williams at the Italian Grand Prix and showed fantastic performance scoring his first points.
De Vries was snapped up by AlphaTauri as Gasly's replacement and will be on the grid for the 2023 season.