Pierre Gasly shares how French soccer legend inspired him to take #10 as his F1 race number - "I was a big fan"

F1 driver Pierre Gasly is set to join Alpine for the 2023 F1 season. The French driver will continue sporting number 10 on his car. He revealed Zinedine Zidane, the French soccer legend, as the inspiration behind him choosing number 10 for his F1 career.

Gasly previously raced with the number 10 in his championship-winning 2013 Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup season. Gasly is a huge fan of footballer Zinedine Zidane, who famously wore the number 10 while playing for the French national team.

Gasly revealed in an interview:

"I raced with that number in 2013 when I became Formula Renault European champion."

"I was a big fan, I am still a big fan of Zinedine Zidane, who was number 10 for the national French team."

Zidane played for the French national team from 1994 to 2006. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. Zidane, popularly known as 'Zizou' won the 1998 FIFA World Cup. He led the French national team to the 2006 FIFA World Cup final. The soccer legend is also one of the most successful coaches the game has ever seen.

Before Gasly, Japanese driver Kamui Kobayashi used to run number 10. Kobayashi raced in F1 for the final time in the 2014 Abu Dhabi GP, the number was reserved for the next two years. Gasly initially wanted to choose number 21, with which he won the GP2 championship, but the number was reserved as Esteban Gutierrez raced with it previously.

When Pierre Gasly debuted in 2017, he adorned his Toro Rosso with the number 10. He has continued to race with the number ever since.

---

Pierre Gasly joins the French outfit for 2023

Pierre Gasly decided to leave the Red Bull family when the opportunity arose to drive for Alpine. It was a considerable step up for Gasly as his previous season with Scuderia Alphatauri was underwhelming. The Italian team finished ninth in the constructor's standings, while Alpine was the best of the rest, finishing behind the top three teams.

Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi believes Pierre Gasly will take the team ‘to a new level’. Rossi told the official F1 website:

"Hopefully he’s going to bring what we need, which is to continue developing the car, because at the moment, we are still pretty much in the midfield, and we need to take the car a notch up."

"For that, you need drivers that are not only capable only to go fast and score points with the potential the car gives us, but also to take it to the next level."

"I mean, he was the technical leader in many ways, I guess, at AlphaTauri. We want him to continue doing that, grow the team, grow himself with us and take us to a new level."

Alpine has a full French driver lineup in Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon. The driver pairing is expected to produce drama on and off the track.