Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda will remain at AlphaTauri with the team opting for consistency with both drivers heading into 2022.
07/09/21
In the wake of the announcement that Valterri Bottas is to move to Alfa Romeo for 2022, AlphaTauri have been quick to lock in both of their drivers.
Ahead of the team's home race in Monza this weekend, there was little doubt that the team's line-up for next season would be any different with Gasly performing extremely well while Tsunoda seems to be getting to grips with the AT02.
Gasly has scored the bulk of AlphaTauri's 84 points with a strong fourth place last time out at the Dutch GP. The Frenchman currently lies eighth in the standings with 66 points and has scored in 10 of the 13 races which includes a superb podium finish at the Azerbaijan GP.
REDEMPTION: Since returning to AlphaTauri mid 2019, Gasly has been one of the stand-out drivers on the grid having taken his maiden win at the Italian GP last year
With Sergio Perez staying as Max Verstappen's team-mate at Red Bull next season, Gasly's options were limited. Retaining his seat at AlphaTauri seemed like the obvious choice as his contract with the Red Bull family doesn't end until the end of 2022.
“I am confident there’s more to come and this is why we are excited to have him with us for another season" Franz Tost, AlphaTauri Team Principal
F2 graduate Yuki Tsunoda stunned the F1 paddock by scoring points on his debut and has since scored four times since the opening race of the season. However, it's been a tough learning curve with the Japanese driver making too many mistakes. A couple of these mistakes have been in qualifying where he crashed out of the Emilia Romagna and French GP sessions.
MAKING PROGRESS: Tsunoda has become a fan-favourite but will need to calm down while speaking to his team over the radio as his frustrations boil over
A creditable seventh in Azerbaijan and a sixth in Hungary have been solid results but Gasly is beating him in the qualifying head-to-head. Nevertheless, the duo have a fantastic working partnership and Tsunoda seems to be learning having moved to Italy to work more closely with his engineers.
“I’m really excited to be staying with Scuderia AlphaTauri for a second season. It’s an incredible opportunity and I’m so thankful to the team for letting me continue to grow my experience in Formula 1 with them." Yuki Tsunoda
AlphaTauri are the fifth team to confirm their driver line-up heading into next season however, Mercedes are expected to announce the signing of George Russell in the coming days.
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