Alpine have drawn upa longlist of as many as 14 drivers to replace Fernando Alonso at the team in2023. Alonso surprised manyin the F1 paddock last month when it was announced that he would leave Alpine todrive for Aston Martin from next year. Alpine swiftly movedto promote reserve driver Oscar Piastri in Alonso's stead, but theAustralian then revealed that he would not be driving for the French squad,having instead agreed a deal to drive for McLaren. Instead, recent rumours have suggested that Pierre Gasly will move from AlphaTauri topartner Esteban Ocon in an all-French driver lineup at Alpine next year – thoughsuch a transfer appears contingent on AlphaTauri's parent organisation Red Bullfinding a suitable replacement for Gasly. Mick Schumacher and DanielRicciardo have also been linked with a seat at the Enstone squad, and TeamPrincipal Otmar Szafnauer has confirmed that as many as 14 drivers are incontention for the drive. "We just want tounderstand all those that are available," Szafnauer told Sky F1 . "We've got a longlist. I've mentioned 14 before and it's about right. "Nowwe've got to whittle that down to three or four and then look at all those andsee which one’s the best fit."
Alpine keen to move on from Alonso/Piastri debacle
Alpine have come in for criticism for the manner in which they let both Alonso and Piastri slip through their fingers for 2022. But rather than dwell on any misfortune or mismanagement, Szafnauer is keen to learn from the episode and move on. "I think the right thing is we have to have a retrospective look as in what we can do better, learn from it, and we will do that in the future," he said. "But secondarily it opens up a seat now, probably the best seat open in F1. Now we've got to do a job in finding the right driver."
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