With half the grid now decided for the 2025 Formula 1 season, some drivers will be starting to get a bit nervous about their position on the grid.
There are still a few teams that haven’t confirmed a single driver for next year, including Alpine.
The French outfit are having a tough time and speaking on the On Track GP Podcast driver and pundit Richard Bradley has suggested one driver that Bruno Famin could decide to target.
His current drivers – Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly – would have hoped for so much more from this season.
Both Frenchmen are race winners but will be heading to Miami this weekend simply hoping to score their first points of the season.
Team principal Bruno Famin has already admitted that he needs to be ‘ready to react’ if both of his drivers decide to leave at the end of the season when their contracts expire.
That would mean looking at other options either on the grid and wanting to earn their first chance in F1.
Bradley suggests that Zhou Guanyu would be a good fit for an Alpine seat in 2025.
The £30,000-a-week driver looks almost certain to be shown the door by Sauber at the end of the year.
They’ve already got Nico Hulkenberg signed up for next year and Carlos Sainz is their number-one choice to partner him.
READ MORE: Sauber driver Zhou Guanyu’s life outside F1 from height to net worth
Richard Bradley suggests Zhou Guanyu for 2025 Alpine seat
It’s been a mixed start to the 2024 season for Chinese driver Zhou Guanyu.
In Bahrain, he was praised despite narrowly missing out on the points.
Terrible pit stops have plagued both his and Valtteri Bottas’s races this season and contributed to his 18-place finish in Saudi Arabia before he retired in Japan.
The highlight of his season was his home race in China and he was once again one position away from scoring points in the Sprint Race.
The main Grand Prix wasn’t quite as impressive for Zhou and he’s yet to add to his 12 career points at this stage.
Staying at Sauber beyond this season looks very unlikely for Zhou and so the opportunity to join Alpine in 2025 would be greeted with open arms.
Given his position in the paddock, he can’t be too picky even if Alpine appear to be a team in real trouble.
READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Alpine F1 Team from team principal to lineage
Guanyu Zhou is racing to save his Formula 1 career
Talking about Zhou’s future, Bradley said: “Audi, I mean, the China market is the Volkswagen group’s and Audi’s biggest by miles and obviously having Zhou [Guanyu] there is a very big piece for them and obviously he does bring a significant amount of financial backing.
“But Audi, historically, they don’t really care about that.
“They only do things to win and they do a very, very good job at it, especially if you look at their sportscar programs.
“I think [Valtteri] Bottas has a good chance of staying in that seat, purely because of the experience and how he proved himself at Mercedes.
“[Carlos] Sainz is obviously on the market and is a very attractive proposition for that seat.
“But I think Zhou’s going to struggle to hold onto it, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Zhou go to Alpine.
“With the new shareholders that Alpine have brought in and the accessibility and the visibility he can bring to the brand in China, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him take one of [Esteban] Ocon or [Pierre] Gasly’s seats.”
Alpine could look at left-field options for next season
Alpine will be keeping their options open for 2025 and Zhou will be on their radar but potentially not at the top of their list.
Williams aren’t interested in Zhou meaning that’s one less team to potentially compete for the 25-year-old with.
Pierre Gasly is currently more likely to stay at the team than Esteban Ocon, but we’re still in a position where both of them or neither of them will be with Alpine next year.
Then there’s Jack Doohan who isn’t being spoken about as much as other rookies but may have a strong case to be on the grid next year.
The post ‘Wouldn’t be surprised’: Alpine could replace Ocon or Gasly with £30k-a-week F1 driver in 2025 – pundit appeared first on F1 Oversteer.