These are the possible replacements for Alpine if Alonso can't start the season

On Thursday evening, some bad news broke in Switzerland. Fernando Alonso was reportedly knocked off his bicycle. He is said to have broken his jaw in the collision. The full extent of his injuries are yet to be reported/confirmed. With pre-season just four weeks away, there's doubt as to whether the Spaniard will be fit to compete. If Alonso can't start the season, the question is who can Alpine use to replace him?

Incident of Alonso

There is, of course, strong hope that Alonso will recover in time for the start of the Formula 1 season and the winter tests in Bahrain. He was conscious and, according to previous reports, has not suffered any further fractures or injuries. Yet this immediately puts Alpine in a difficult situation, because the team does not have a real replacement.

Alpine proudly presented their youth program this week, in which Alpine have a talented list with Guanyu Zhou, Christian Lundgaard, Oscar Piastri, Caio Collet and Victor Martin. There is one problem, however: None of these drivers have a super license yet. Remarkably, Piastri comes the closest. He has 48 points on his license after his F3 title and is therefore 2 points short.

Zhou and Lundgaard have the most experience, but after their poor performance in Formula 2 in 2020, they both only reach 31 points. Not nearly what it takes to race in Formula 1. It is, therefore, necessary to look at the list of reserve drivers.

The reserves

Interestingly enough, Sergey Sirotkin is Renault's reserve driver. At least, he was in 2020, but nothing further has been announced since last season. So chances are that Sirotkin is the man first thought of. He has one year of experience in F1 and also the necessary license points.

Yet Sirotkin does not seem like the man you want to have in the car as an Alpine. In the past year, many experienced drivers have been pushed aside by their teams. Are there perhaps a few of those who would like to join Alpine once?

Who's going to jump?

The first name that comes up is, of course, that of Nico Hulkenberg. The German drove for Renault in the past. However, he showed that he is capable of joining last minute for Racing Point in 2020. In addition, he is not under contract with any team, which makes it attractive to bring him in for one time.

Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean each have their past at Renault and their F1 experience, but Magnussen does not have overly fond memories of the team and both are on their way to America as well. They have already managed to get a seat there and will not want to fly over for one race.

Daniil Kvyat and Alexander Albon also lost their seat in 2021. Albon, however, is under contract with Red Bull Racing. Kvyat may be an option for Alpine, but one that is far-fetched. It is hoped that Alpine can simply have Alonso at their disposal. 

This article was written and originally published by Tim on the Dutch edition of GPblog.com.