Heading into this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix, Alpine are one of three teams yet to score a point. They’ve suffered perhaps the sharpest decline of any team over the winter.
2023 was a solid campaign. Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon each scored a podium, and the team bagged 120 points overall, enough for sixth in the championship.
But there has been extensive upheaval behind the scenes since last summer, when CEO Laurent Rossi and team principal Otmar Szafnauer lost their jobs. Inevitably, that’s filtered down to the race track.
Alpine’s long-term target was to regularly compete for podiums by 2024 but instead they find themselves in a state of disarray. There have even been murmurs of a potential sale, though the team have denied those.
- READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Alpine F1 Team from team principal to lineage
In these circumstances, it’s no surprise that Gasly and Ocon are both weighing up a move away. They’re both out of contract at the end of the year, and they know there are opportunities elsewhere.
Both drivers have been linked with a seat at Sauber, who will become Audi in 2026. And there have even been suggestions that Ocon could return to Mercedes on a one-year deal.
Ted Kravitz says Gasly didn’t look like a happy man at the previous race in China. And Ocon has said it’s the ‘worst feeling’ to produce strong performances without reward.
Two possible replacements for Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon at Alpine
According to formula1.com journalist Lawrence Barretto, Gasly and Ocon are indeed ‘exploring their options elsewhere’. The team would ideally like to keep both, and failing that at least one.
If they leave, then one driver they could look at as a potential replacement is Zhou Guanyu. Zhou previously served as a development driver for the team, which may stand him in good stead.
Failing that, the French outfit may give a youngster a chance. They want to promote one of their academy drivers in the ‘short-to-medium-term’ future to show that the system is working.
The beneficiary could be Jack Doohan, currently the reserve driver. Doohan has participated in four practice sessions for the team, and won six races in his F2 career.
Zhou Guanyu set to lose seat after Nico Hulkenberg arrival
Zhou and teammate Valtteri Bottas know that they may lose their drive at Sauber. That’s because the team have already signed Nico Hulkenberg from Haas for 2025.
They could yet axe both, though that may depend upon whether they can sign Carlos Sainz, or indeed one of the Alpine drivers. If one is to stay, then it’s more likely to be Bottas.
Zhou joined the F1 grid in 2022 and will make his 50th race start in Miami this weekend. Described as a ‘quality’ driver by journalist Scott Mitchell-Malm, he respectably scored six of his team’s 16 points last season.
David Croft feels that the 24-year-old deserves a seat on the F1 grid and Alpine could give him a lifeline. If they can find some stability behind the scenes, then it could prove to be a good long-term move for the sport’s first Chinese driver.
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