Red Bull will not block Gasly if he wishes to go to Alpine, confirms Marko
The French driver Pierre Gasly, affiliated with AlphaTauri (a branch of Red Bull) for several seasons and still for the 2023 season, will be allowed to leave his team if an agreement is reached with Alpine. Marko, the head of driver development, confirmed this over the weekend at Zandvoort.
On the Canal+ and Sky TV microphones, Helmut Marko confirmed that he will not stand in the way of Gasly’s departure from the Red Bull team if an agreement is reached with Alpine. However, he still expects a win-win agreement.
« Red Bull is contractually tied to Pierre [Gasly] for 2023 with the AlphaTauri team, but there are, however, discussions. » confirms Marko to Canal+ and Sky.
If our conditions are met for a departure, then we will not block Gasly. It would be a dream for him to drive for a French team. But at the moment, the conditions are not met.
With the departure of Alonso for Aston Martin next season and Piastri’s refusal to drive for them, Alpine is therefore looking for a replacement for 2023. The team, which has disclosed a number of 14 drivers who have applied, is also considering the arrival of Pierre Gasly. The winner of the 2020 Monza Grand Prix has been under Red Bull’s wing since the beginning of his career and no longer has much hope of driving for the main team after his unsuccessful stint against Max Verstappen.
Helmut Marko talks about it, the arrival of Colton Herta – an American Indycar driver – is among the possibilities to replace Gasly. Red Bull has been looking for an American driver for several seasons but has never found one with enough potential for Formula 1.
The path to Herta, who does not have a super license, is still long and until then Helmut Marko confirms that other drivers from the junior teams are being considered in case Gasly leaves: « We have already thought about that but we don’t want to announce anything at the moment. We have young drivers in the team who have the super license. For the reserve position, we will make sure to recruit someone from among them. »
The conditions are not yet determined but negotiations are ongoing. Ocon will not oppose Gasly’s arrival at Alpine although he is in favor of Mick Schumacher’s arrival and makes it known.
