Instead, it later emerged McLaren had stolen a march on Alpine to lure Piastri to the team to replace Daniel Ricciardo, who is leaving at the end of the 2022 season.
And it means that Alpine are still looking for a driver to fill the vacant seat left by the veteran, with Pierre Gasly of AlphaTauri the frontrunner to succeed Alonso.
It is not the first time Alonso’s future has created a domino effect in the sport after he left in 2018 to pursue other racing opportunities. Now in the twilight years of his career, it had been suggested Alonso could retire in the near future, but he is not thinking of retiring at least for another two years.
“I hope to be in Formula 1 for at least two or three more years – I think I am still at 100 percent,” he added. ”And then, from there, a challenge that I have never hidden is to try the Dakar Rally again.”
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https://formulaone.news/mercedes/max-verstappen-has-amazing-nico-rosberg-f1-record-in-sight-after-matching-lewis-hamilton-f1-sports
