Pierre Gasly says he harbours ambitions to fight at the front in Formula 1, amid speculation over his immediate future in the sport. The Frenchman, who currently drives for AlphaTauri, has a contract with the Red Bull-owned team for 2023, but has been linked with a potential move to Alpine to replace the Aston Martin-bound Fernando Alonso. Red Bull appear willing to let Gasly leave for Alpine if they can secure a suitable replacement, but with plans to bring IndyCar driver Colton Herta into the team seemingly scuppered by FIA Super Licence requirements, such an eventuality is far from certain. Alpine are also considering other drivers in the event that Gasly remains unobtainable, but the Frenchman, who has only ever driven in F1 for Red Bull-backed teams, implied he was ready to fly the nest in order to achieve his aim of competing at the sharp end of the grid. "At the moment this is out of my control," Gasly told Sky Sports F1 of his 2023 plans. "[AlphaTauri] have given my first win in F1 and my first chance in Formula 1. "It doesn't mean I'm going to stay there all my life because my ambitions in Formula 1 are to fight at the front, and that's what I want. "It's been five years at AlphaTauri. We'll see if I do another year there, but at the moment that's what's planned. If this is what happened I'll give my 110 per cent to this team. "There are a couple of things that need to be sorted first before we talk more about this situation. In my situation there are only positives. We'll see what happens in the next few weeks."
Gasly a Red Bull lifer
A member of Red Bull’s junior driver programme from 2014, Gasly made his F1 race debut midway through 2017 with the team then badged as Toro Rosso, before being promoted to Red Bull for 2019. However, a disappointing first half-year resulted in the Frenchman being demoted back to Toro Rosso midway through that season, swapping places with Alex Albon. Undaunted, Gasly put in some stellar drives, finishing second in Brazil later that year, before taking advantage of a fortuitously-timed red flag to take a fairy-tale debut win at Monza in 2020 for the renamed AlphaTauri team. Gasly continued to punch above his weight in 2021, scoring regular points and finishing ninth in the Drivers’ Championship, four places above teammate Yuki Tsunoda.
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