The drivers jostle at the gates of Alpine F1 and Otmar Szafnauer, the director, must make a choice.
If it is clear that Pierre Gasly has priority, the Frenchman is however far from having both feet in the French team. This will only happen if Colton Herta gets his superlicence, unless Dr. Helmut Marko changes his mind.
To help with the decision Alpine F1 will test several drivers on a 2021 A521 in Hungary including Nyck De Vries, Jack Doohan, Nico Hulkenberg but also, this is new, Antonio Giovinazzi! Mick Schumacher will ultimately not be there according to his management but he remains on the list nonetheless. As for Colton Herta, his running is intended to help AlphaTauri and Red Bull only.
Szafnauer will therefore have a difficult choice to make in case Gasly cannot join the team. Jack Doohan already seems dismissed at this time, the Australian did not seem to have the favors of Laurent Rossi either, too young and inexperienced to land directly in F1 in one of the best teams.
The director takes stock of the candidates with a little less jargon since his big boss spoke. The list has clearly grown shorter.
“Of course we have a list of candidates and Pierre is on that list. All the good drivers are on our list.”
“Herta’s superlicense is definitely a deciding factor. But we have to wait for the FIA’s decision. The superlicense rules should include exceptions in certain situations.”
“We are also talking to the German drivers (Hulkenberg and Schumacher) you mentioned. I get on well with both of them, both are extremely fast. But we haven’t made a decision yet, because of the situation of Herta.”
“What we know, as Mr Rossi said, is that we need someone with experience and speed.”
These last words shouldn’t work in favor of Nyck De Vries either, even if the Dutchman already has a lot more experience than Doohan.
