Pierre Gasly finds himself at a strange juncture in his F1 career. While the Frenchman has faced several ups and downs in his career so far, his current situation is quite new for him. Amid the unforeseen abysmal struggles of Alpine, Gasly is without a contract for the 2025 season. Given the way his team has begun 2024 on a disastrous note, the #10 driver would be looking for a way out. Many expect Gasly to be actively searching for a seat next year even if there may not be many takers for him. However, he is not worrying about it too much as of yet.
Speaking to Motorsport-Total.com, the French driver expressed how he feels about the general situation with where he stands with Alpine. As quoted by Junaid on Twitter (now X), he said, “There is not much to say from my side at this point.”
“My focus is still on doing the best I can for Alpine. It doesn’t matter if we have the slowest car at the moment. I still have to perform and deliver the best for the team”, stated Gasly.
The 28-year-old then delved into why he signed the two-year contract with the Enstone-based team back in 2022. His clear aim was to be in a competitive car, in addition to the sentimental connection of racing for a French team.
He said, “When I joined the team, they were in fourth place [in the World Championships] with the clear goal of getting closer to the top three. That was clearly the trigger and a kind of motivation for me”.
Clearly, Alpine has not delivered on Gasly’s expectations and their own goals of getting closer to the top three. As things stand, they arguably have the worst car relative to all other teams. However, Gasly has not given up on the French team just as yet.
He had a decent first season in 2023, finishing on rather equal terms with his teammate, Esteban Ocon. In 2024, Ocon has been the better driver and has looked more likely to get the team points. Regardless, Gasly and Ocon are two closely matched drivers, so the former may not lose his sleep just as of yet.
The curious case of Pierre Gasly
Pierre Gasly has had a very interesting trajectory in F1. Coming in as one of the brightest talents at Red Bull, the Frenchman was on everyone’s watch after his initial season and a half. However, his half-season of struggles with Red Bull derailed his career massively.
After just 12 races for the Milton Keynes outfit, Gasly got a demotion to their junior team, Toro Rosso (now V-CARB). Later in its AlphaTauri period, the #10 driver achieved some splendid results to turn his fortunes. His real moment of redemption came with his maiden Grand Prix win in Italy in 2020.
After those highs at the Faenza outfit till 2022, Gasly has gone back into his shell since his move to Alpine. This also correlates with how the Enstone team has regressed competitively. From being fourth in 2022, Alpine fell to fifth last year. And those woes have worsened this year due to an internal structural turmoil and key personnel exits.
So, one would wonder what sort of futuristic outlook does Gasly have with the French team. Being a race winner, he would want to increase that tally and be consistently on the podium. So, the Frenchman may want to rethink his future prospects if Alpine continues to struggle and plummet like they have recently.
