"The best seat open in F1"- Alpine ready to shortlist 2023 season's options from a 14-name list

Alpine boss Otmar Szafnauer has stated that the team has shortlisted 14 names in an attempt to find Esteban Ocon's next teammate. Pierre Gasly is undoubtedly the frontrunner among the 14 shortlisted drivers.

Szanfauer also said that the team's opening for next season is the best seat in the sport.

"But secondarily it opens up a seat now, probably the best seat open in F1. Now we've got to do a job in finding the right driver."

The team has been looking for a replacement for Fernando Alonso, who unexpectedly decided to sign with Aston Martin for next year. He will be replacing Sebastian Vettel, who will be retiring from the sport after this season.

They initially announced that Oscar Piastri, currently an F2 driver, would be replacing Alonso. However, Piastri made a social media post soon after, stating that he won't be racing for them next season. He recently signed with McLaren, replacing Daniel Ricciardo, who came to a mutual agreement with the team to terminate his contract for next year.

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Pierre Gasly could be the potential choice for Alpine

Helmut Marko earlier revealed during an interview that the team (Red Bull) would let Pierre Gasly switch teams if he wanted to, and while saying this, he referred to a French team for the Frenchman.

The only French team on the grid is Alpine, and there is a good chance that Gasly will make the switch from Red Bull to Alpine.

Gasly has been a part of Red Bull since 2017. During this period, he also had the chance to drive for Red Bull in 2019, but was soon replaced and sent back to Torro Rosso (AlphaTauri).

Gasly is a decent driver with good pace, and he also managed to win the Italian Grand Prix of 2020. If he gets into the French team, it could be a career breakthrough for him and could lead to podiums and race wins.

Since the entire Piastri incident, many names have been linked with the vacancy at Alpine.

After news of Ricciardo leaving McLaren broke, he was considered a deserving driver for the team. Also, before the team went rebranding, he drove for them.

Later though, talks about him going into Haas emerged. That meant that Mick Schumacher would have to give up his seat as he still doesn't have a contract for next year. This made him a potential replacement as well.

Nico Rosberg, a former world champion, thinks the same:

"Alpine and Otmar are going to sit there and think there's a lot of guys out there who have the experience and the talent. One is Pierre Gasly. I think he's the perfect slot-in driver for that team, apart from what we've heard is not a great relationship with Ocon."

In his opinion, he thinks that the Frenchman could be the perfect choice for the team. Otmar Szafnauer stated that since the team has shortlisted 14 names, all they need to do now is sort out the best driver from the list and choose them for next season.