Pierre Gasly believes success in F1 with the Alpine F1 Team would be a ‘great’ way to pay tribute to his late friend Antoine Hubert.
After winning the GP3 title in 2018, Antoine Hubert stepped up to FIA-F22 the following year. He was a strong talent in Renault F1’s young drivers programme, now renamed the Alpine Academy.
Antoine Hubert won races at Monaco and Paul Ricard before he died in an accident during the feature race at Spa.
Pierre Gasly and Antoine Hubert had both climbed through the junior ranks of French motorsport, were close friends and attended the same school set up by the French racing federation to help them progress.
Pierre Gasly, who moved from AlphaTauri over the winter, will race for the Alpine F1 team in 2023. He admitted that Anthoine Hubert’s link with the team “was a quick idea” when talk of his transfer began.
“I knew Antoine was a French driver and an Alpine driver. He was well liked in the academy,” Gasly told Autosport in a post-season interview.
“Among all of us drivers, we knew Alpine was very keen to bring a French driver to the top, and he was on his way to F1.”
“Obviously, when this transfer happened, it was definitely something I was thinking about, and also about my family. I thought it was a really good move.”
“Me and Antoine had a dream in common to go to F1. He had a dream to perform for Alpine.”
“If I can achieve something in my life in a way that reminds me more of Antoine, that would be great.”
Pierre Gasly’s move to the Alpine F1 team in 2023 is due to his relationship with Red Bull F1, despite having a year left on his contract after Fernando Alonso made a shock move to Aston Martin. It was after a deal had been struck to release it.
This year, Pierre Gasly will form the Aus-France line-up with Esteban Ocon in the Alpine F1 Team.
Pierre Gasly has revealed that he sent a message to Anthoine Hubert’s family shortly after his move to the Alpine F1 team was agreed and that he hopes to spend time and communicate with them during the off-season. .
“I have some anecdotes I’d like to share with his mother, which I’ll tell you later,” Gasly said.
“It’s definitely something I always carry with me.”
Category: F1 / Pierre Guthrie / Alpine
