F1 Silly Season Takes Another Turn as Alpine Set to Announce Esteban Ocon’s Teammate Soon After Fernando Alonso’s Exit

The current F1 season has been full of uncertainties and the silly season refuses to turn less chaotic. Now, in his recent blog titled ‘Notebook from Manila’, Joe Saward shares an interesting incident surrounding the Driver’s roulette. According to the British Formula One journalist, Alpine will announce their 2nd driver to partner Esteban Ocon next year.

Moreover, Alpine is also looking to appoint another young Australian rookie to heal the scars of Oscar Piastri and replace him as the reserve driver. With the wounds of losing the Australian to McLaren still fresh, Alpine will be hoping to find some solace from his compatriot.

He wrote, “There was some discussions about the F1 driver market but as things stand it looks like Alpine will soon announce that it has signed Pierre Gasly to partner Esteban Ocon. The team will probably have Jack Doohan as the reserve driver in 2023.” 

He further added, “Scuderia AlphaTauri is expected to take Nyck de Vries in place of Gasly. Williams is still working on a deal for Formula 2 driver Logan Sargeant, while Haas says it has not decided anything but the rumors suggest that Nico Hulkenberg is being considered as Kevin Magnussen’s teammate.”

READ MORE: Singapore GP Delayed to Prevent $70M Worth Rapper From Getting Wet Pre-Race

With the season nearing its end, the Constructors would want to finalize their lineup as soon as possible. The longer they take to decide, the lesser options they have to pick from.

Battle of P4 – McLaren overtakes Alpine after the F1 race in Singapore

McLaren was probably the team that benefitted the most from the Singapore GP. Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo finished an impressive P4 and P5 to take home 22 points for the Papaya team. On the other hand, Alpine was left kicking themselves after a disastrous outing. Both their drivers had to retire their cars.

McLaren boss Andreas Seidl said, “I think it’s simply an open battle. I think it’s very close together in terms of performance as well”. McLaren currently leads Alpine by 4 points after their fine result in Singapore.

Knowing the points gap between the teams is quite small, Seidl further mentioned, “We don’t get carried away with the result from today. We know that the battle we’re in against the Alpines in the constructors’ championship is a very tough one and that’s why we are fully aware that this battle might go on until the last lap in Abu Dhabi.”

WATCH THIS STORY: Spectacular F1 Helmet Designs at 2022 Miami GP Ft. Daniel Ricciardo & Lando Norris

The rumors surrounding the drivers’ market are not slowing down. With Alpine suffering a double blow by losing Alonso and Piastri, they will be looking to tie down Ocon’s potential partner soon enough. If Alpine does partner Ocon with Gasly, that will be a talking point for sure, as the two Frenchmen share a complicated relationship.

Do you think Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon are the pair Alpine is looking for?