Alpine paid eye-watering sum to sign Pierre Gasly as Ricciardo follows Alonso example

Alpine paid almost £9m to persuade Red Bull to allow Pierre Gasly to rip up his AlphaTauri contract a year early to join the Enstone team, according to a report.

That figure suggests Alpine were keen to finally get a top driver tied down to a contract. And that is no surprise, considering Fernando Alonso chose to leave rather than renew his deal and their preferred replacement, junior Oscar Piastri, preferred a switch to rivals McLaren.

While several other drivers were considered, it was clear that Gasly was their preferred option after they lost their legal battle for Piastri's signature. The stumbling block was whether or not AlphaTauri would allow him to leave, after already announcing he would honour the final year of his Red Bull deal before considering other options.