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Pierre Gasly’s Alpine future in focus after past fury with potential teammate Valtteri Bottas

Originally posted on HITC | By Ben Evans | Last updated Jul 1, 2025 7:55 AM ET

Alpine are reportedly considering another change to their driver line-up, with Valtteri Bottas emerging as a favourite to join Pierre Gasly in 2026.

Red Bull and Racing Bulls have already swapped drivers, with Yuki Tsunoda feeling the pressure after taking over the seat from Liam Lawson.

More recently, Alpine brought in Franco Colapinto to replace Jack Doohan at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, buying time to finalise their 2026 line-up.

However, there are already signs that Flavio Briatore’s patience with Colapinto is wearing thin, especially as the team wants to be decisive before the summer break.

Rising pressure and old rivalries shake up the paddock

There was a moment in 2021 when Gasly was left fuming with Bottas. At the time, Gasly was still with AlphaTauri, while Bottas raced alongside Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes.

Gasly was hoping for a podium finish at the Hungaroring, but chaos at the first corner derailed his chances.

The Frenchman believed he could have secured a top-three spot, speaking to Formula 1 after the race:

“I don’t know what to say except that Valtteri f—- up, took the first six cars pretty much out of the race, so… Luckily we didn’t get damage from it, compared to Max [Verstappen], Lando [Norris]. Checo [Perez] too.

Photo by Jayce Illman/Getty Images

“The target was to qualify high in the midfield, to be in the best possible position for the race, that’s what we did, and, in the end, we can say we almost over-performed when we qualified ahead of the Ferrari and the McLaren, but, in the end, it would have been better to be in our natural position, slightly further back and benefit from this situation.

“But you never know when these things will happen, but it’s just a shame.

“From the first corner, we were dead last, and in such a track, it is extremely difficult to recover, so we had a really good day to still finish P6, we managed to get the fastest lap, but we should have been looking at the podium.

“It’s a bit disappointing, because we think there would have been more to do if we had been slightly luckier at the start.”

Valtteri Bottas addresses where Alpine stand in his Formula 1 future

Gasly ended up finishing fifth at the Hungarian Grand Prix that year, benefiting from Sebastian Vettel’s post-race disqualification.

Bottas and Gasly have likely moved on from that particular incident and would be a very strong midfield partnership were the move to happen.

Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images

Bottas is pursuing a return to the grid and speaking to Formula 1’s Nihal Arthanayake, the Finn addressed the prospect of joining Alpine:

“Never say never. I mean, they haven’t performed quite for the last couple of years. But I think with the budget they have, and with the people they have — with the right tools — they should be able to. I know the structure is changing a bit,” Bottas explained.

Bottas’ description of how Alpine operate fits, given the locations of their race team and power unit development, plus the recent changes in personnel.

Alpine sit ninth in the standings heading into Silverstone, with seven points to show from the opening 11 races.

This article first appeared on HITC and was syndicated with permission.

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