AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER
ALPHATAURI’S Pierre Gasly is the latest name going around in the driver market regarding prospective seats for the 2022 Formula 1 season.
After Alpine’s Esteban Ocon signed an extension until 2024, and Mercedes’ drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas in discussion with Mercedes, Gasly is the other driver whose 2022 plans have not yet been confirmed.
The French driver has had a few successful races with AlphaTauri, even winning in Monza in 2020, since being demoted by Red Bull in dramatic fashion in 2019, but there have been talks as to whether Helmut Marko will retain Gasly in the Alphatauri seat or sign a new driver.
Other discussions within the drivers market have wondered as to whether he will up and leave the Red Bull faction altogether, signing for a totally different team on the grid.
Gasly revealed to Formula 1 (F1) that discussions with Red Bull have not yet begun 2022 contract discussions, but said that he would bring it up with advisor Helmut Marko and the constructors team.
“It’s something that we are going to talk about with Red Bull and with Helmut, especially. At the moment, I don’t know the will of Helmut and whether they are going to take me back or whether I am going to stay at AlphaTauri,” said Gasly.
When speaking on the possibility of leaving altogether he said, “There is interest”, but that the decision would ultimately be dependent on “whether [Red Bull] are willing to release me to another team.”
“I’m obviously trying my best and showing my potential, giving my best to AlphaTauri, and I think what we are doing at the moment is very good.
“I hope this year we can get the best result in the team championship, like the best they’ve ever had since they joined F1.
“That is my goal, personally. Then we will see going forward what the most attractive options are that we have,” he added.
The “attractive options” that Gasly speaks of are quite limited, with only Alfa Romeo, Williams and Mercedes being the only teams whose drivers will be out of contracts by the end of the year.
As for Red Bull, the chances of gasly’s promotion back into the second seat would be dependent on the moves of Sergio Perez, who has started off his first season with Red Bull in an excellent form, grabbing his first win in Baku for the team.
“Ultimately, it goes down to Red Bull and discussing what we will do together going forward,” Gasly said.
