'Gasly switch to Alpine to be announced this weekend'

In Japan, Honda will strengthen their partnership with AlphaTauri, but possibly during the same weekend, we will also see confirmation that Pierre Gasly is leaving the Red Bull family for Alpine F1.

Indeed, Dutch F1 journalist Erik van Haren states that it is almost certain that the Frenchman will make the switch to the French F1 team. According to Van Haren, it is no longer big news and only a matter of time: "Gasly and [Nyck] De Vries I will no longer label as big news. In any case transition for Gasly will be made world news if all goes well come weekend." With that, the journalist implies that, as no big news, De Vries will move to AlphaTauri's spot.

Although the Japanese GP weekend promises to be a party for both Honda and Red Bull Racing and AlphaTauri, the departure of a Red Bull driver would still be a blemish on the weekend. As rumours of De Vries' F1 debut at AlphaTauri are also becoming more real, this confirmation could also come soon and the Japanese GP weekend could well be a big reveal party.