Red Bull Reported To Have Offered Yuki Tsunoda as a Decoy to Alpine To Prevent Pierre Gasly’s F1 Exit

Red Bull demoted Pierre Gasly to Toro Rosso, back in the summer of 2019, where he failed to match Max Verstappen’s potential. The demotion must have felt like a punch in his stomach. Since then Pierre Gasly has shown his worth. Now he has made an announcement to join Alpine in 2023. Do you know Red Bull initially proposed Yuki Tsunoda join Alpine?

Yes, you heard it right. The Frenchman had a contract with AlphaTauri till the end of 2023, in exchange for a significant increase. Gasly realised that to take his career graph upward, he needs to leave the Red Bull family. Alonso’s announcement to leave Alpine left a seat vacant. There were many candidates for the seat, but Pierre Gasly was the top contender who met Alpine’s criteria.

As Gasly was under a contract, initially Red Bull suggested Yuki Tsunoda join Alpine. The Japanese driver was used as a decoy in order to keep the Frenchman. Unfortunately, Alpine had nothing to offer for the exchange. It was the performance of Nyck de Vries at Monza that opened the deal for Pierre.

Alpine, the AlphaTauri driver, has a patriotic sentiment. The team is French-based and now Esteban Ocon has got a French teammate too. Pierre is humbled on joining Alpine. He said, “I am delighted to join the Alpine family and begin this new chapter in my F1 career. Driving for a team that has French roots is something very special.”

Gasly has been like an elder brother to Yuki since his debut and has seen all the improvement of Tsunoda, “The past two years, we have lived a lot of good moments together. I’ve seen him developing himself, improving himself a lot over the past 18 months,” said Gasly.

READ MORE: Definitely Going to Miss Yuki”: Teary Pierre Gasly Consoles Mourning Fans Over Tsunoda Split With Firm Promise

Red Bull has recorded all the ups and downs of Pierre. It’s been nearly a decade since the Frenchman tied up the knot with Red Bull. The Frenchman must have planned thoroughly about leaving The Red bull.

Gasly Appreciates the understanding nature of Red Bull

Leaving Red Bull means now Gasly would be a rival to Yuki on the track. There Bromance is the talk of the town on several occasions. The AlphaTauri duo share a great on and off-track bond. Red Bull could have made it difficult for Gasly to leave, but they didn’t. Although  Red Bull stuck to a strict condition that once they find an appropriate replacement, Gasly can go ahead.

Gasly Appreciated the understanding of his team. He said, “They understood straight away the opportunity for me, and also my desire to start something new and my will to fight at the front of the grid and I’m grateful for that.” He further added, “I was close to seeing tears in Franz’s [Tost, AlphaTauri Team Principal] eyes when he got the news, as we have a very strong relationship we’ve been working extremely well together.

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In the end, Alpine got what it wanted. Gasly and Ocon will be together for at least two years since Ocon is contracted until 2024. The pair will form the first full-time all-French lineup at a Renault-owned team since 1982.