My Opinion: Pierre Gasly and Alpha Tauri. Is It Time To Move On?

As the 2022 F1 season reaches it's half-way stage, I can't help but question as to where the year has gone. But as with every F1 season, half-way is all about driver contracts and the so called "silly-season." The driver market has so far been an interesting talking point this season from Daniel Ricciardo not driving at his full potential down at McLaren to Nicholas Latifi over at Williams with his regular occurrence of spins and crashes. And then there's Pierre Gasly, the main focus of this blog post.

Over the past few years Pierre Gasly has become a household name in the world of motorsport thanks to his turbulent F1 journey. And, with the recent announcement that Alpha Tauri will be retaining the Frenchman for the 2023 season, I'm taking a look at whether this is the right option for the 26 year old from Rouen in France.

Pierre grew up in a motorsport oriented family. His grandparents were avid karters and his father raced in a range of motorsport categories. Pierre himself was six when he got his first taste of karting. Fast forward some years and Pierre can call himself a champion in the world of Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 (2013) and GP2 (2016). He also joined the infamous Red Bull Junior Team in 2014 where a high percentage of their drivers have gone on to race in Formula One. Pierre became apart of this elite percentage in mid-2017 when replaced then Toro Rosso driver Daniil Kvyat at that year's Malaysian Grand Prix. And thus, his Formula One dream became a reality.

2018 was Pierre's first full season in F1. He comfortably beat then team mate Brendan Hartley on track and in the standings and earned himself a promotion to the main Red Bull team alongside Max Verstappen for 2019. But 2019 saw Pierre's career take a turn for the worse. He was never comfortable with the RB15 (Red Bull's car for 2019) and would consistently see himself off the pace of his teammate and quite often lapped. By the second half of the season he was demoted back to Toro Rosso. As of 2022, Pierre still races for the team which has since be re-branded as Alpha Tauri and with one win and three podiums, all with AT, Pierre has quite possibly become the team's most successful driver. So why should we even be questioning as to whether Pierre should be carrying on with the team for another year?

The answer is pretty simple. He has been there since 2017, albeit half a year at Red Bull. Alpha Tauri will never be a world championship team as long as their "older sister" Red Bull is still on the grid and Pierre has proved that he can race. With no immediate opening back at Red Bull in the immediate future, this leaves Pierre in limbo.

Pierre staying at Alpha Tauri is good for the team. They have a race winning, experienced driver to help them get the points they need and the expertise to continue developing the car. This also means Pierre continues to have a race seat in a team he knows extremely well. However, Alpha Tauri is a junior team and Pierre is no longer a junior. For years, a driver at this team would be there on average for two years and then would either move to Red Bull or be shown the door. Luckily for Pierre, the majority Red Bull's current crop of juniors haven't been ready to step up into the pinnacle of motorsport but with many of them currently racing in Formula 2, it's just a matter of time and Pierre will therefore need to move forward.

Looking at ex-Toro Rosso and ex-Red Bull Junior Carlos Sainz, he has shown the motorsport world that there is success after Red Bull where progression regularly stalls.

Carlos left Toro Rosso midway through 2017 when an opportunity opened up at Renault. He has since moved to McLaren and then on to the prestigious Ferrari team. Although he is still waiting for his first win, Carlos is consistently fighting up at the front of the field and has become a regular on the podium. But this is a risk that Carlos took. It may not work out the same for Pierre. He has a decent seat, why risk it?

In my own opinion, he should risk it. As already discussed, he has the talent. He may not be world championship material and has faltered under pressure in the past but he is capable of winning and securing podiums when the opportunity presents itself. Pierre could also get another shot at Red Bull in the future, but when? He's definitely coming across as more confident and well developed driver since 2019 but will revisiting his past but him back to square one? A positive mentality is important for a driver and the Red Bull environment isn't exactly world renowned.

Personally, I think Pierre's future lies elsewhere away from Red Bull but with very few seats available in F1 it comes as no surprise that he is staying with Alpha Tauri for now. The rumour of a potential move to McLaren was one that particularly caught my attention earlier in the season. Obviously that rumour has since been debunked but I'd be all for it in the future. Pierre has the right talent, he just needs the right seat.

20+ F1/Motorsport Captions for Your Social Media Posts

Whether you're a super motorsport aficionado or just a casual fan that tunes into a motor race every now and again; you may have been on the hunt for the perfect motorsport related caption for that Instagram post. Well, you've come to the right place. Here are some of my favourite motorsport captions.

🏁 And, it's lights out and away we go.

🏁 Life is better by the race track.

🏁 Racing is my greatest adventure.

🏁 Find me at a racetrack anytime.

🏁Always ready for a motor race.

🏁 Talk F1 to me.

🏁 Racing, drifting, sliding.

🏁 On Sunday's we race.

🏁Driving in the fast lane.

🏁 Without racing there is no racing.

🏁 Live the dream. Take the wheel.

🏁 Racing into the weekend like.

🏁 Shake n bake.

🏁 Go fast, take chances and keep racing through the next corner.

🏁 Feeling the need for speed.

🏁 The only thing more beautiful then watching motorsport is being there yourself.

🏁 It's race day.

🏁 Racing fans, start your engines.

🏁 Slicks and stones.

🏁 Living life in the fast lane.

🏁 Just. Keep. Racing.

🏁 Speed is in our veins.

🏁 F1 is my kind of sport.

🏁 Crossing the finish line together.

🏁 Anything other than F1 is second choice.

🏁 I'm either watching motorsport or missing motorsport.

🏁 Race you to the finish.

🏁 Be right back, just at the racetrack.

🏁 At a racetrack far, far away...

🏁 Go fast, don't crash.

So, whether you're at the racetrack or watching from home, there's a caption for everybody. Also, leave a comment below if you have anymore you'd like to share with fellow motorsport fans. We're a community after all! I can't wait to see you all use these in your next posts!

Opinion: Social Media and F1. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

The online F1 community has grown substantially in recent years. Whether it's on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok or Youtube, the community is continuously growing and is becoming as big and as diverse as it's ever been. But is the influence of social media on our sport good or bad? It's an interesting discussion, for sure.

Ten years ago, the F1 Twitter community, or"F1Twt" as the kids these days say, was quite a small and friendly online community. It wasn't perfect, nothing is, but it was an enjoyable place to talk about our sport, meet fans alike and, at times, easily communicate with our favourite drivers and teams. Fast forward to 2022 and it's a whole new world.

First off, a quick overview of F1's rapid growth. There are many factors out there which contribute to the sport's rapid growth in popularity in the past couple of years. From the domination era of Lewis Hamilton from 2014-2020, to Max Verstappen's rise to F1 success and not to mention the docu-series Drive to Survive which debuted on Netflix in 2019. But for me, there is one factor that stands out above the rest and that is social media.

F1's lack of social media presence and accessibility has been questioned significantly in the past. The content wasn't available to draw new fans in. Many fans pay to watch the sport but with the introduction of Drive to Survive, an F1 Youtube channel and F1 TV, things are slowly becoming more accessible. And, with teams and drivers alike creating their own social media pages, fans are getting access into the world of F1 around the clock. It never really ends. Also with F1's social media managers and content creators constantly jumping on the latest trends, it's inevitable that new people will come across this, for example, on their TikTok "For You" page and thus will be introduced to the world of Formula One. But, not only is social media giving fans access into the insights of Formula One, it's also giving fans a chance to meet like-minded people which is how the F1 Community has been formed across several social media platforms. The want for F1 content is off the charts and F1 is starting to provide just that.

Continuing on the subject of content, social media has influenced the amount of F1 blogs (such as this one), "Youtubers" and "TikTokers." F1 fans have been given a voice and a chance to share their content with the world. Whether it is a blog post, a news article or a video/reel, fans are getting creative and are showing their love for the sport that wasn't exactly possible ten years ago. What is also an interest is the amount of people, especially females, getting into the sport with ambitions of becoming social media managers, journalists, pod casters, content creators etc. And, females are specifically mentioned because social media is positively influencing the normality of woman in motorsport. The evolution of the sport over the times has been incredible.

However, the highs of social media comes with the lows and the F1 community, especially on Twitter, seems to be riddled with toxicity at times.

Social media in itself can be an unhealthy place to be. Whether it's on a computer or a smart phone, users are sat behind a screen. They can be who they want and say what they want without any regret or remorse. The F1 community is anything but immune to this behaviour with members sending hate or "slander" not just to each other but to anyone in the world of F1. Sadly this also includes drivers and team personnel. Cyber bullying is a problem and exists in the world of F1. It can be mentally and even physically harmful but unfortunately due to anonymity this problem may never be resolved and that's across the whole of social media and all the different platforms.

Then there is the issue of what is actually posted to social media. It's extremely easy for things to be taken out of context and thus rumours are born. And, like with Chinese whispers, the rumours continue to change and a completely different story is created. Plus, the rate in which things spreads via social media is extremely rapid. Maybe faster than a Formula One car, so to speak. Also, there have been instances where drivers (not naming any names) have had their older tweets brought to light. These tweets may have included slurs that are definitely frowned upon in this day and age. And, it's not just past posts. Another driver, well ex-driver (again, no names but you could probably guess who) posted a video where he treated a woman disrespectfully causing a storm on social media and rightfully so. Everything in this paragraph are instances that can end a person's career and although no on in F1 has had their careers ended by the power of social media as of yet, it wouldn't surprise me if one day they did.

In conclusion, social media has a pretty good relationship with the world of F1. You just have to look at the sport's popularity and the very dysfunctional family that is the F1 community to realise that. Not everything can be perfect and that includes social media but for now it's influence is what F1 needs in order for the sport to continue to grow into the worldwide phenomenon that it hopes to be.