Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi lists his demands of new recruit and race winner, Pierre Gasly, hoping he can use his experience as a “technical leader” at AlphaTauri to take the Alpine team to a “new level” in Formula One.

Alpine signed former Grand Prix winner Gasly from AlphaTauri after Fernando Alonso left the team at the end of last season to partner Esteban Ocon. Gasly got his first taste of the 2022 Alpine car at the post-season test in Abu Dhabi and has now officially started work with the team for the new season.

Rossi expresses hope that the Frenchman’s experience gained in recent years at AlphaTauri can help the team take another step towards the top teams, and spoke about the benefits Gasly could have for Alpine.

“Gasly to take car even further forward”

“Hopefully he brings what we need, which is to develop the car further, because at the moment we are still pretty much in the midfield and we need to take the car further forward,” Rossi said.

“To do that you need drivers who are not only able to go fast and score points with the potential of the car, but also to take it to the next level. That means that from [practice on] Friday you have to be able to give feedback to the team and get the whole team going in the right direction to improve the car.”

“That’s what we hope Pierre will bring. I mean, he’s been the technical leader at AlphaTauri in many ways, I think. We want him to continue that work, develop the team and himself with us and take us to a new level.”

Is Alpine succeeding in catching up with the top teams?

Gasly made his Formula One debut with Alpha Tauri’s predecessor team, Toro Rosso, towards the end of the 2017 season and has spent all but 12 races of his Formula One career with the Italian team.

During that time, he scored only the second win in the team’s history at Monza in 2020 and helped the 2021 team finish its most successful season to date with a record number of points.

He also played a key role in setting the direction of the team’s development, particularly in recent years alongside his more inexperienced teammate Yuki Tsunoda.

Alpine finished fourth in last year’s constructors’ championship and opted for an aggressive development approach that ultimately saw the team overtake McLaren in the battle for first place in the midfield.

But the gap to Formula 1’s top trio: Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes, remains wide. Alpine failed to score a single podium finish in 2022, trailing third-placed Mercedes by 342 points in the final standings.

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