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🇧🇪 F1'22 R14: Double French

The Belgian Grand Prix was Pierre Gasly’s 100th race, but the rumours continue about his future. 

(c) Red Bull Content Pool

First things first, we’ll need to go back to the start of the summer break, which feels like it was so far removed, it would need a Keith Lemon voiceover and talking head pieces to camera from all your favourite 90s stars. 

But I digress. 

In short, it can be summed up by Alpine losing Alonso, also losing Piastri. McLaren gain Piastri, drop Ricciardo. The longer version is here. 

As a result, there is an open seat at Alpine. The team, rebadged from Renault, are France’s F1 team, despite having a base in the Cotswolds. It makes sense from a marketing point of view and everything else to try and tie yourselves into one of the biggest economies and historic national fanbases. 

And when you really commit to it, the best way to do it is with two drivers with the same nationality. The Britcedes references have been made all season with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell at the wheel of Mercedes, a German marque but based in Brackley. This point wasn’t lost on Audi, who let people know exactly where their new powertrain will be built.
So it follows that one way a Formula 1 team can embrace a nation is by having their two public-facing spokespeople being from the same country. In Esteban Ocon, Alpine have that already, and while they seem resigned to losing Piastri, one intriguing replacement could be Pierre Gasly. The drivers grew up around 50km away from each other, and their paths have crossed at every level of racing with a growing rivalry that has taken them to the mid-pack of the F1 grid. 

Both drivers have surprise wins, with Gasly getting his in Monza 2020 and Ocon winning in Hungary 2021, and although it feels like Ocon would be a name in contention to replace Hamilton when he decides to retire, that extra marketing potential is worth something to Alpine. 

  
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But that rivalry between Ocon and Gasly is fascinating. No one in F1 media - up until now - has ever said Ocon is anything but a charming man, yet with the Gasly rumours flying, suddenly some F1 pundits are saying that the reality might be somewhat different. 

On track, there are signs with previous teammates. Singapore 2018 and colliding with Sergio Perez was one memorable incident
And then there was the rumble with Max Verstappen a few weeks later at Interlagos, which saw Ocon collide with the Dutchman while trying to unlap himself. It ended with Verstappen shoving Ocon after the race and being handed a “community service” punishment.

All of this led to something of a gap year in 2019, being the odd man out in the driver market and having a year as Mercedes reserve before getting back on his feet with Renault - now Alpine - in 2020.
It feels like the year away matured Ocon, and his redemption arc was completed with that freak victory at 2021’s Hungaroring, with that maiden victory acting as the springboard that should take him to the next level, whatever that is. Is it more consistency? Is it being a better teammate? Well, he’s on course to break his record F1 points haul for a season, and Alpine are a clear fourth in the teams’ championship, with Ocon earning more points than his departing two-time world champion teammate.

Maybe he’s this lovely gentleman off the track, but once he’s strapped into the car, he’s a completely different person. 

But looking deeper, there are some similarities between him and Pierre Gasly. Both drivers have a similar number of points (330 vs 325) after a similar number of races (103 to 100), with both in Ocon’s favour. Both have had ups and downs in their career, from Ocon’s forced sabbatical to Gasly replacing Daniel Ricciardo at Red Bull before being demoted to the sister team after half a season. Again, a freak win completes the redemption storyline and he is now the clear leader of the team.
And that next level of being a leader should mean that Alpha Tauri are pushing further up the grid, challenging Alpine and even McLaren, rather than looking nervously over their shoulders at Aston Martin. There is a difference being the leader of a high-flying team and one that’s scrapping it out for some form of relevance. Gasly might be looking for the escape hatch after a down year at Alpha Tauri (84 points after 14 rounds in 2021, compared to 29 this year), despite a driver line up with some continuity. Gasly came into the Canadian GP off his best finish in the season, a fifth in Baku, and with Sergio Perez re-signed by Red Bull, Alpha Tauri were keen to lock their driver down.
Montreal was the first of five consecutive non-points finishes for Gasly, equalling his worst run since 2018. That has caused him to sink further in the drivers’ standings with just four top-ten finishes this year. That drop in form could also cause Alpine to go elsewhere, with Ricciardo one option, while it is probably one year too soon for F2’s Jack Doohan. 

If Alpine is the best escape route for Gasly, it opens up one of the most intriguing seats in Formula 1. Red Bull have several drivers in their Junior team, with Liam Lawson testing in Spa. But they’ve also shown they can have success when they sometimes go outside the system, as they did with Perez.
Colton Herta has been mentioned on these pages before, but never linked with an Alpha Tauri seat. In the hunt for that lucrative US driver, Red Bull could pull off something of a coup. Herta currently has a development contract with McLaren, but if they do get Piastri, what would Herta be developing to?

That’s not to say that Gasly is - or isn’t - definitely going to leave, or indeed go to Alpine, but whether the rivalry is there with his countryman or not, Ocon is probably not established enough to veto any particular teammate. Besides, this is Formula 1. The sport has a river of rivalries running through it, sometimes on either side of the same garage. While the most famous inter-team battles are fought at the front, there are examples up and down the grid. 

What also normally happens is that it’s the making one driver, and the near-destruction of the other. Gasly vs Ocon in the same car would be a fascinating middle-order battle to watch for a couple of years, especially against the backdrop of a changing F1 landscape that might have a third French driver in the form of Theo Pourchaire (I still think he’s going to Formula E). 

Formula 1 moves onto to the second leg of the Max Verstappen home tour with a trip to the seaside rollercoaster of Zandvoort. Verstappen comes into the race with a 93-point lead, so while the driver market and championship battle have a lot of clarity, the future of open seats further down the order is the battle to watch.
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