Pierre Gasly brushes off Valtteri Bottas-Alpine rumours: “It’s a lot of noise”

Pierre Gasly has dismissed speculation linking Valtteri Bottas to Alpine as a “lot of noise”, while defending his performances in F1 2025.

Alpine have endured a difficult 2025 F1 season and sit at the bottom of the constructors’ championship.

An underpowered Renault engine has hampered the French manufacturer’s on-track form.

Additionally, Gasly has scored 100 per cent of Alpine’s points this season.

Jack Doohan and Franco Colapinto have struggled in the second Alpine seat, leading to speculation that they could turn to Bottas.

Bottas is Mercedes’ test and reserve driver, who remains keen on returning to the grid.

Rumours surfaced earlier this month that Alpine were potentially interested in signing Bottas mid-season to give the team a “benchmark”.

When asked about the rumours, Gasly defended his own performances while battling away the rumours.

“I don’t think that’s the case,” Gasly said. “I think it’s a lot of noise. I think the car, I’m showing every weekend what we can do with it, doing a very good job on Saturdays and putting it in places that on paper we all agree we should not really be.

“It’s just tricky, it’s a very tight midfield and we are at the back of it. There will always be noise, especially considering what happened earlier in the year, but I think at the end of the day we should just focus on the work ahead.

“It’s going to be a long season. We don’t have upgrades, the car is not in the best place, but all of us need to focus on what we’ve got to do and try and do it the best way that we can.”

Alpine focused on F1 2026

Alpine will be confident of a stronger 2026, given they will switch to Mercedes power.

All the rumours hint that Mercedes will start the new rules with the best power unit, potentially allowing Alpine to move up to the front of the grid.

“It’s easy to make it sound more dramatic than it is,” Gasly explained. “I think it’s just a very tough field. You look a couple of years back, being eight [or] nine-tenths off the fastest car would put you sixth, seventh on the grid.

“This year being eight [or] nine-tenths slower than the fastest car puts you on the back row. I think everyone has done a very good job, we know the strengths and weaknesses of our package. We don’t have the strongest car, we don’t have the strongest engine – both combined doesn’t put us in a very good spot.

“But I see a lot of good stuff happening in the team in terms of trying to get the maximum we can. We know the focus is on 2026 and it comes with some compromises on this year, which are tough to take, but hopefully we see the dividends next year.”