Pierre Gasly has revealed details of how his Formula 1 deal with Alpine materialised during the 2022 season.
Gasly, who had been part of the Red Bull umbrella for almost a decade, was acquired by the Alpine F1 team for the 2023 campaign.
The Frenchman’s contract with AlphaTauri ran until the end of the 2023 season, however Red Bull allowed him to be released early.
Gasly has revealed that he was on holiday during the summer break hoping to relax after a difficult opening half to the year when Alpine first got in touch with him.
“I was in Greece on the first day of summer vacation,” Gasly told Auto Motor und Sport. “I needed a break because the season was not going my way. I needed to switch off.
“On the first day, I had my first contact with Alpine, at that time to Laurent Rossi [Alpine F1 CEO].
“I passed everything on to my management. The talks started between Alpine, Red Bull and myself. We sounded out what could become of it.
“A summer in which I wanted to switch off turned into the opposite. I was in contact with Formula 1 practically every day, and followed everything – what the situation was, and how the deal was developing.
“As it got closer, it was about the terms of the contract. I knew, of course, Red Bull’s position on wanting to keep me.
“So I knew it wasn’t going to be easy talks with Helmut [Marko]. But he understood how important this step was for me. Then we made it work. It was a win-win deal for everyone.”
Dutchman Nyck de Vries was chosen as Gasly’s replacement after he impressed during his F1 debut at Monza last year with Williams.
Gasly will partner Esteban Ocon at Alpine this year, forming an all-French line-up.
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