Otmar Szafnauer opens up on the decision to take Pierre Gasly at Alpine from F1 2023 and how he is to handle him with Esteban Ocon.
Once Fernando Alonso decided to leave Alpine, the team came under some pressure to hire his replacement as they quickly pushed Oscar Piastri into the race seat. But the Australian already had other plans to be at McLaren which kicked-off a controversy.
It took weeks to sort it out and finally Piastri was confirmed at McLaren, which left Alpine to decide its second driver. The rumour mill already linked Gasly to a move but he had to be bought out of his Red Bull contract with AlphaTauri.
It eventually was a smooth move with AlphaTauri opting to hire Mercedes reserve Nyck de Vries. While they are sorted, for Alpine, it will be an all-French line-up in 2023 – a dream scenario for the French manufacturer in terms of marketing.
But the relation between Ocon and Gasly hasn’t been a smooth one since karting. Now at the F1 level, they are professionals which Szafnauer is banking on but only time will tell how they fare together and how well they take the team forward.
Apart from touching on the topic of the pair, Szafnauer opened up on hiring Gasly in the first place from the list of drivers which also featured Daniel Ricciardo. The American also spoke about dealing with Red Bull for the Frenchman’s release.
Choosing Gasly –
Szafnauer: “We had, as everyone knows, we had a seat available around the summer break, and then we started looking around as to who would be a best fit, and we had some criteria to work to. And the three things we wanted was naturally speed: a fast driver; one with experience and also youth at the same time. Adding all three things up, there aren’t many people that have all that and Pierre definitely does. We thought he was a great fit for us. So, we put him on our shortlist, and then went about getting it done.”
Going all the way to get Gasly –
Szafnauer: “Yeah, Pierre, like I said, we put him on the shortlist. And one of the reasons was that he was going to become available in ’24, not for ‘23. And then it became quite evident to us that, like I said before, he’s got youth, experience and speed. And that’s difficult to say for a lot of drivers that are still within Formula 1. Even, you know, the other two that you mentioned, didn’t have those things. So, we’re fortunate to secure Pierre and look forward to working with them.”
Other short listed drivers and tests with Doohan, Giovinazzi and de Vries –
Szafnauer: “At the beginning we discussed with a few drivers, including Daniel and, you know, Pierre meets the criteria that I said to a tee – he’s experienced fast and young. So, when it became evident that Pierre was a possibility we made our shortlist even shorter. And regarding those tests, they are planned well in advance of the test actually happening and, it wasn’t quite clear about Pierre, although he was, like I said, on our shortlist there, he was still contracted. So, we ran the three in Budapest to assess their ability, and they all did a great job. And yes, we definitely learned from the Budapest test. Nyck did a great job. Very professional. He deserves a spot in Formula 1. He was quick straightaway and gave very good feedback. And yeah, congratulations to both Nyck and AlphaTauri.”
Talks with Gasly and Red Bull negotiations –
Szafnauer: “It was maybe a week or so [after Alonso left]. Not even. I mean, shortlist first. When it looked like Oscar wasn’t 100% certain with some of the contractual issues that we had, then we started working on a shortlist of who else it could be, and Pierre was on it. And the Red Bull discussions, there are a few elements of all that, but what I can tell you is that it was really straightforward working with both Franz and Helmut and Christian in securing Pierre’s future. They’re very correct and true to their word and did exactly what they said they were going to do and it was a pleasure working with them.”
Handling Gasly and Ocon due to their past –
Szafnauer: “They’ve known each other for a very long time, and they’ve raced together. And I think it’ll be, you know… they’re about equally experienced, they’re both very fast, both ambitious. So I think they’ll work well together. We made an informed decision. And that means talking to the entire team, including Esteban beforehand, to make sure that if we did make a decision, it’s a team sport and we have to be able to work together and optimise. And Esteban was very supportive, Pierre as well. They’re professionals and they have no issue working together. And hopefully, the friendship will rekindle. They were friends at one point, but from a professional perspective, they’re both very happy to work with each other.”
Here’s Pierre Gasly on joining Alpine
Here’s what Lewis Hamilton said about Esteban Ocon fight