The departure of Fernando Alonso from Alpine towards Aston Martin draws an interesting domino effect. Alpine is attentive to Pierre Gasly and in AlphaTauri they do not lose track of Mick Schumacher, but neither of Colton Herta.
The abrupt departure of Fernando Alonso from the Alpine team heading to Aston Martin Racing has been the trigger for a number of moves. On the one hand, there is the Piastri case. The natural replacement of the Spaniard in Alpine has the desire to race with McLaren, which in turn has left Daniel Ricciardo free after ending his relationship with the Woking team.
A situation that has the paddock on alert, especially if Oscar Piastri manages to land once and for all at McLaren once the duplication of their contracts is resolved. At this point, Alpine would have a vacancy to fill and, even though Daniel Ricciardo seemed the pilot best positioned to cover her, the end result may not be that.
Helmut Marko would be considering the possibility of signing Mick Schumacher, but Colton Herta’s name is also on the table
In fact, Alpine opened his eyes on Pierre Gasly, current AlphaTauri pilot. Although the public version is that Alpine will not move in the market until the Piastri case is resolved, word of Otmar Szafnauer, the French structure would already be moving to find out the requirements to sign Gasly, renewed with AlphaTauri a couple of months ago.
The option of Pierre Gasly is really attractive for Alpine and not only because of the proven track record of the Frenchman, but also because of his nationality. Have a pair of 100% French pilots formed by Ocon and Gasly is a quite attractive claim for the formation, even though Otmar Szafnauer has not spoken and the relationship between both pilots is not very good.
The change of ‘side’ of Mick Schumacher
Continuing with the domino effect, the eventual departure of Pierre Gasly towards Alpine would force AlphaTauri, read Red Bull, to go on the market. In this sense, various reports indicate that Helmut Marko is considering the possibility of sign Mick Schumacher, since its continuity in Haas is not clear. The German is a strong claim, even if his performance has not been entirely brilliant.
Recruiting Schumacher would mean, in a way, beat ferrari, since the young German driver is closely linked to the Italian brand. However, Helmut Marko handles other possibilities and Colton Herta’s name is also on the table. However, there are some drawbacks to the American pilot’s candidacy.
First, Colton Herta has a contract with McLaren, although this point should not be a very big stumbling block, since the domino effect created by Fernando Alonso would be closed in this case. Colton Herta lands at AlphaTauri, Pierre Gasly lands at Alpine and this signing would take pressure off McLaren in the Piastri case. However, the biggest problem is that Herta does not have the super license.
Red Bull would be willing to recruit Herta even if he can’t compete in 2023, although his role would be very different. In that case, and if Mick’s option does not come to fruition, Gasly would stay in AlphaTauri and the ‘hot potato’ would go to Alpine, although it is true that the French brand always has the option of Daniel Ricciardo -free- or even Nico Hulkenberg.
Photos: Red Bull Content Pool / Andretti / Haas F1