Alpha Tauri F1 rep “Gathrie was over unless the contract was cancelled”[F1-Gate.com]

Pierre Gasly’s move to the Alpine F1 team could define the rest of his F1 career. Former AlphaTauri F1 team principal Franz Tost believes Gasly may have had no future if Red Bull had refused to let him go.

As a result of F1’s dramatic turn in the driver market, Alpine F1 Team finally paid Red Bull to release Pierre Gasly from his contract with AlphaTauri F1 for 2023 and allow him to join the Renault works team instead.Thanks to Guthrie clearly when he did.

With Pierre Gasly having no future at Red Bull and no prospect of returning to the senior team that dejectedly abandoned him midway through the 2019 season, AlphaTauri was clearly too small for him.

As a result, Pierre Gasly said proudly that he has more opportunities to fight at the front of the grid and that he can take a step forward in his career.

Scuderia AlphaTauri F1 team principal Franz Tost believes the move has given Pierre Gasly more than that. If Red Bull had gone Gasly’s way, he believes his career could have been in danger.

“That’s why Red Bull decided to release him from his contract,” said Franz Tost to The Race.

“Red Bull decided not to hire him, and Pierre wanted to go to another team.[Sebastian]Vettel retired,[Fernando]Alonso moved to Aston Martin, so things changed. Yes, the Alpine seat was empty.”

“Red Bull did a very fair thing to let him go to Alpine because otherwise the risk of him not having a seat in 2024 is very high. It was clear to me. Yes. Then the cockpit will all be filled. “

“Accepting Gasly’s departure was not easy, but in the end I think it was a fair decision.”
Franz Tost’s reasoning is that Pierre Gasly is about to leave Red Bull when his contract expires and there is no guarantee of a good seat.

Some argue that if Pierre Gasly was the true priority target of Alpine F1 Team, the team would have adopted a stopgap solution in 2023 and acquired Gasly in 2024. But it is risky, especially when current drivers shine and deserve longer contracts. That would have left Gasly out in the cold.

And if Pierre Gasly were to leave Red Bull in 2024, where could he go? It would not have been a top team seat. From the summer of 2022, McLaren and Aston Martin had a medium-term deal. So the other choices were Sauber, Haas or Williams, but each would also have their own priorities.

I have seen many good drivers stop their careers suddenly for various reasons. In no particular order, that fate has fallen on Esteban Ocon, Paul di Resta, Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen over the past decade. Reputation is not always enough to help free agents navigate the most turbulent times in the F1 driver market.

Even if Franz Tost overestimated the long-term crisis that Pierre Gasly could face, there was no better option than the Alpine F1 Team in 2024. So letting Gasly go right has to be assessed as a move in his best interest . Even if Red Bull does us harm.

“We have lost a very experienced driver who brought a lot of success to the team and helped build it,” said Franz Tost. said Toast.

“It’s definitely a loss, without a doubt.”

One of the key factors in accepting Red Bull was Alpine’s desperate move to acquire Gasly, who is understood to have been paid extremely handsomely to Red Bull.

But if Franz Tost/AlphaTauri were really fighting, the likes of Helmut Marko and Christian Horner might have kept Pierre Gasly for a year longer.

The Red Bull boss was never a big fan of Pierre Guthrie. Gasly himself said last year that leaving the team was “harder than most”.

But Franz Tost had great faith in Pierre Gasly. They had a strong bond.

“I almost had tears in Franz’s eyes when he heard the news,” joked Pierre Gasly.

It was expected that such a bond would make Franz Tost not want to lose the main driver, but it also motivated him to put Gasly’s interests above his own.

“We have a good relationship,” said Franz Tost.

“Of course, I was disappointed because I expected him to be with me until the end of 2023.”

“But with all the circumstances, I realized it didn’t make sense to keep him.”

“Otherwise the risk was too high that he might not have a good chance in Formula 1 anymore.”

Category: F1 / Alpha Tauri / red bull / Pierre Guthrie