Alpine's Pierre Gasly not surprised by Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari move
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F1 rivals Pierre Gasly and Lewis Hamilton play video games together
Alpine driver Pierre Gasly says he was not surprised by Lewis Hamilton's move to Ferrari for the 2025 season.
Gasly said at the launch of Alpine's new car that he was "aware of [Hamilton having] some talks with Ferrari".
"He is towards the end of his career, so it was now or never," Gasly said.
"But I think it was kept secret for a long time," added the French 28-year-old, who is a close friend of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and plays computer games with Hamilton.
He refused to say how he knew about the Mercedes driver's move.
Gasly expressed little sympathy for Leclerc's team-mate Carlos Sainz, who is now looking for a seat for 2025.
"Carlos is a great driver, Lewis is a fantastic driver, best of all time," Gasly said. "There was an opportunity on both sides and Ferrari and Lewis took it together. It leaves Carlos in a more tricky situation and it's not easy."
Alpine slipped to sixth in the constructors' championship in 2023 after finishing fourth the year before and underwent major internal upheaval. They scored two podium finishes in 2023, one for Esteban Ocon in Monaco and a second for Gasly at the Dutch Grand Prix.
Gasly said his team had taken "risks" in changing their car concept for 2024 and that this had the potential to lead to a difficult start to the season.
"It kind of felt like we were plateauing a bit so we decided to go with something very new, quite bold and aggressive, knowing it might be a little bit difficult at the start of the season but with more potential to unlock later on," Gasly said.
"As Matt [Harman, the technical director] said, the only thing that remains from last year is the steering wheel. So, when you start from a blank piece of paper, from scratch basically, there is always more risk.
"But you have to take risks at some point if you want to get big in the world. So that's the strategy we decided to go for.
"We didn't try the car yet, so we have to wait for [the opening race in] Bahrain and get a first feel for it but we know there is potential to unlock.
"We just might need to be a little bit patient."
Alpine have launched the A524 Formula 1 car and the A424 World Endurance Hypercar
His team-mate Ocon explained that the new concept revolved around changes to the suspension aimed at improving the car's aerodynamic and mechanical performance.
Ocon said: "The new concept is basically [a] different position with all the suspension, and that is very visual.
"We are trying to get more airflow through the car with that and to gain grip also at low speed. And with that comes a lot of little details - better ride, better traction. On paper, that's what we should get. On track, we'll see."
Team principal Bruno Famin admitted that the engine was "a bit down" compared to those of their rivals, but said he believed the team could compensate with the car's performance.
Gasly added: "We know where we stand on the engine and this won't change until 2026. From the moment you know that, then it doesn't mean we can't improve what we've got.
"We are trying to improve the performance of the power unit but we have more performance to gain on the chassis based on the fact we have a lot more to change and develop.
"I am confident we can make a step forward. The car wasn't as good as we wanted last year and that's why we're doing this concept change to make sure we can catch faster competitors who were ahead of us last year."
Alpine took the decision to make major changes because they felt it was their last chance under the current regulations.
A major rule change is coming in for 2026, with new engines and new aerodynamic regulations. The new rules are due to be finalised by the end of June, and there is a moratorium on aerodynamic development for 2026 until the start of 2025.
It means teams will be focused heavily on 2026 by the middle of this season, taking resources away from the 2025 cars.
Harman said the new car, designated the A524, incorporated "many big changes".
It continues Alpine's pursuit of the Red Bull-originated design philosophy of heavily undercut sidepods.
Harman said the car had a new rear suspension, improved front suspension, and incorporated extensive work on thermal management of the brakes - a key area in F1 because the brakes transmit heat to the Pirelli tyres, which are prone to overheating and losing performance if not managed carefully.
Harman added that the underfloor, a key area in these cars that use venturi designs to create underbody downforce, had been re-thought.
"By applying these changes, we are giving ourselves much wider scope to add performance across the next two seasons even if there has been some compromise on reaching certain targets, which we have pushed to the limit," he said.
Alpine have also launched their 2024 endurance racing programme, which Mick Schumacher, son of seven-time F1 champion Michael, is dovetailing with his role as Mercedes F1 reserve driver.
Schumacher, who has said he is determined to re-establish his F1 career after being dropped by Haas after two seasons at the end of 2022, said: "The move was quite clear. The closest [category] to F1 but also a holding project.
"Everyone is really keen to get going and it really sparked the flavour in me."