Formula 1 | Red Bull confirms Gasly will only go to Alpine F1 if Herta replaces him

At the start of the weekend, Helmut Marko explained that Red Bull and AlphaTauri would have no problem releasing Pierre Gasly if « all conditions » were filled. With these words, many thought that the Red Bull consultant was talking about compensation from Alpine F1, but it seems that was not the case.

Indeed, whether the winner of the 2020 Italian Grand Prix can leave the Italian team would instead depend on Colton Herta obtaining the Superlicence. The IndyCar driver is the only candidate Red Bull and AlphaTauri are considering to replace Gasly alongside Yuki Tsunoda.

Only, the one who drives for Andretti Autosport in IndyCar does not have his Superlicence, since he only has 32 of the 40 points necessary to win it. He will possibly have 33 at the end of the year if he retains his tenth place in the drivers’ standings across the Atlantic.

But to have the other seven, he would potentially have to compete in EL1s in each remaining race, which will not happen, since he is still engaged in IndyCar with Andretti, where there are two races left to complete the season.

Herta is « a key element » for the future of Gasly

Red Bull Racing director Christian Horner confirms that the FIA’s decision on a possible waiver for Herta to obtain its Superlicense will be key to freeing Gasly to join Alpine.

« It’s the key element » said Horner, who does not seem to make financial compensation a sufficient argument. « We are not going to replace Pierre, unless we have something exciting to put in this car. »

And to recall that Gasly’s contract is signed with Red Bull, who is his employer: « He’s a Red Bull Racing driver on loan at AlphaTauri. There’s a lot of things happening at the moment and we’re following them with interest. We’ll see how it goes. »

For his part, Marko confirms that the negotiations are going well, and seems more open than Horner, repeating that a list of conditions must be met. What was only rumored at the start of the week is now openly discussed, and Gasly could therefore join Alpine F1 in 2023.

“We can imagine a lot of things, but the discussions are ongoing” indicates the Austrian. « If all the conditions are met, Pierre could go to Alpine. I can confirm our discussions with Alpine and these are constructive discussions. I cannot speak about the conditions, but in any case, it seems possible. »