Despite Fernando Alonso announcing that he would be staying at Aston Martin beyond the end of this season, there are still plenty of potential driver movements on the horizon.
Mercedes and Red Bull are the only teams in the top half of the grid yet to confirm their driver line-up, but at the back of the grid, there are still plenty of seats up for grabs.
Speaking on The Race Podcast, journalist Edd Straw was examining the plans of one of Formula 1’s back markers.
The driver market offers all ten teams the opportunity to improve their line-up for 2025 and beyond, but also a chance for each driver to assess their options.
Two drivers who will be very carefully considering their next steps are Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly.
Alpine are in a world of trouble right now and sit bottom of the Constructors’ Championship without a point to their name.
Unlike Sauber and Williams who are also in the same boat, they’ve never even looked close to a top-ten finish this year.
There’s now a suggestion that Gasly might have an option in his Alpine contract for 2025.
However, with every passing race, it looks less and less likely that it’ll be exercised.
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Alpine team principal Bruno Famin has already commented on his potential driver line-up for next year.
The 62-year-old team principal is well aware that although both drivers are happy right now, they’re likely pursuing other options on the grid.
It’s not an easy position to be in when you’re at the back of the grid, especially when you have two race winners in the team.
Esteban Ocon has been connected to Alpine for some time but also has links to Mercedes and considering they haven’t replaced Lewis Hamilton yet, it wouldn’t be a surprise if he’s exploring the possibility of a return.
Gasly is a newer addition for Alpine and the option in his contract is likely based on their fourth-place finish in the Constructors’ Championship the year before he joined.
Since then, the French outfit have stood still compared to their rivals and appear to have taken a backwards step over the winter.
It leaves them in a precarious position with one pundit suggesting Alpine might quit Formula 1 altogether.
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Talking about the two French drivers, Straw said: “The Alpine drivers are looking around as well, we know both of them have not decided to leave 100% looking around but obviously their management wouldn’t be doing their jobs if they weren’t looking about the place.
“[Esteban] Ocon’s out of contract, I think [Pierre] Gasly’s got some kind of option that probably Alpine is not going to hit the performance level for.
“This is all the stuff that gets deferred because there’s a ripple effect isn’t there?
“It’s like a reverse of the undercut effect in that the big names and the big teams decide and then everybody just sort of looks around to make the best of what’s left.”
If things don’t improve at Alpine and Gasly has the option to leave in 2025, it would be a surprise if he turned down that opportunity.
He’s a very quick driver and as he showed during his time at AlphaTauri, a race winner in the right conditions.
While there appears to be more flexibility in the driver market than last year, many of the top teams have acted early to decide on their line-ups for next year.
He might have to take a gamble on a team like Sauber – soon to be Audi – or even Haas or Williams if they’re in search of a new driver and he’s desperate to leave Alpine.
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