Pierre Gasly weighs in on Ryan Reynolds Alpine deal with instant request
Pierre Gasly has issued Ryan Reynolds with an instant request just days after the Hollywood star invested in Alpine’s F1 team. The Frenchman already has dreams of meeting the Wrexham owner after a new deal with the F1 squad was announced earlier this week.
Opening up on Reynolds involvement, Gasly said: “I must admit I am personally a fan of him and his work. He is definitely one of my favourite actors and yeah, definitely super excited to meet him at some point during the season.” Reynolds and Rob McElhenney are part of an investor group taking a 24 per cent stake in the squad.
The £171million deal effectively values the French squad at around £706m and will allow the team to further develop. The pair have invested in the team alongside Otro Capital and RedBird Capital Partners.
Earlier this week, Alpine boss Laurent Rossi confirmed where the extra money from investors would be directed. He explained: “[The investment group is] going to help us boost our revenue. Hospitality, sponsoring, licensing, merchandising. Above and beyond what we have planned.
“A portion of that we will reinvest into facilities, into tools, into equipment. This is part of a plan that we already launched way before Redbird joined us, which we call Mountain Climber.
“We are hiring 80 people. So we’re going to simply boost this plan, accelerate it even further, in the limitations of the cost gap obviously. So this is how it’s going to help us indirectly continue on our path.”
Rossi admitted Aston Martin’s meteoric rise in 2023 had been a “reality check” for the French squad. The British manufacturer’s resurgence from midfield runners to regular top three finishers means Alpine will likely drop from P4 to P5 in the Constructors’ standings.
Rossi also stressed the extra funds would allow the team to push on with their development in a boost for Gasly and team-mate Esteban Ocon. It could mean the team can introduce new parts more quickly in a bid to cement their place at the front of the midfield.
Rossi added: “We can probably accelerate things we thought would be taking seven weeks, three months. Now we look at it and say: ‘Seven weeks – perhaps it’s four; three months – perhaps it’s two.
“What do we have to believe to get there? People start scratching their heads a bit more thinking: ‘Maybe we are being a bit too conservative here, maybe we are doing too many validations, maybe we can shorten the process here and there’.”
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