Gasly believes in Alpine: 'Want to do everything we can to reach the top'

Pierre Gasly believes he is taking a big step forward on the grid with his choice of Alpine. As part of a factory team, he believes he will again be fighting for podiums and victories.

In 2023, Gasly will make the switch from AlphaTauri to Alpine. At the French racing stable, Gasly joins a factory team for the first time (not counting his six months at Red Bull-Honda or the Torro Rosso-Honda trial year in 2018). A factory team can have the engine tuned perfectly to the car and Gasly sees that paying off compared to a customer team like AlphaTauri.

Gasly looks forward to Alpine period

''If you look at the possibilities, there have been no more attractive seats (available),'' Gasly told Auto, Motor und Sport. ''They fight at the top end of midfield. Consistent with both cars. The team is developing the car very well. Whenever they bring new parts, they make progress. They have a very good correlation between factory and track. I see huge potential.''

Gasly sounds very enthusiastic and also managed to mention that he is in frequent contact with the people at Alpine and Renault. Indeed, Gasly was curious to what extent Renault supports the F1 team: ''They are fully behind it. They want Alpine to fight for the top spots. They will do whatever it takes to get to the top. During those conversations, joining them felt like a natural step for me.''

For Gasly, 2023 will take some getting used to the new car at first. After years of driving an AlphaTauri, he now has to get used to a new team, a new car and a new teammate. The latter in particular will be interesting for the neutral viewer to keep an eye on.