Red Bull ‘prefer our own people’ for potential Pierre Gasly replacement

Having declared Red Bull won’t stand in Pierre Gasly’s way if he wants to move to Alpine, Helmut Marko has gone through the list of his potential replacements.

With Fernando Alonso leaving for Aston Martin and Oscar Piastri off to McLaren, Alpine are in need of a new driver for next year’s championship.

The team is chasing AlphaTauri’s Gasly with reports claiming they have already agreed terms with the driver and are set to pay Red Bull a fee to release him.

Marko all but confirmed this to Sky Sports.

“We have a valid contract for 2023, but in the meantime there are talks,” said the Austrian. “If our conditions are met, we wouldn’t stand in Gasly’s way.

“It would be a dream come true for him to drive in a French factory team, but not all the conditions have been met yet.”

However, when they are – if they are – Red Bull will need a new team-mate for Yuki Tsunoda at AlphaTauri.

“We’ve already thought about that, but we don’t want to announce that yet,” said Marko.

“We have some people in the junior squad who have a superlicence. For the reserve driver, we would recruit someone from that.”

Formula 2 driver Liam Lawson is believed to be leading the charge, at least if Red Bull want to draw from their own junior programme.

The New Zealander, who put in the laps in an AT03 during FP1 for the Belgian Grand Prix, has taken three wins in Formula 2 this season with Carlin and fits P5 in the Drivers’ standings.

"I mean, I'm still working on the final details of the contract…"

Well now, Pierre 👀 #F1pic.twitter.com/s1PKQWTVD5

— PlanetF1 (@Planet_F1) September 1, 2022

However, it has been reported that Marko is also keen on Mick Schumacher, who is out of contract with Haas at the end of this season.

The German has also cut ties with Ferrari, the speculation being that’s been done to free him up to join a non-Ferrari powered team in 2023.

Marko, though, poured cold water on that suggestion.

“He’s not an issue for us,” he said. “He is – or was – a Ferrari junior. That’s why we’ve never dealt with Mick Schumacher.

“We have our own programme. Of course, we prefer our own people.”

IndyCar driver Colton Herta is also said to be an option. The American driver will bring with him interest from his home country.

“We are not yet there, but the United States is an important market,” Marko said.

“We have followed all that closely, if we are talking about the same person [in reference to Herta].

“He has already done a Formula 1 test, he was good. I don’t want to get into details. Let’s wait and see how this develops.”