Months of intense speculation have culminated in a day with two announced confirming two of the most hotly debated seats on the 2023 F1 grid.

Firstly, Alpine are having an all French (and all Normandy) lineup next year as they sign Pierre Gasly from AlphaTauri.

This may cause some issues for the Alpine management through the course of the season as it is widely known that the pair of them have a long-held feud since their childhood racing together – I can’t see this ending well.

Despite the excitement of this news, Gasly to Alpine is only one side of the story. The second announcement today is that Nyck de Vries will be on the grid next year in an AlphaTauri.

The Dutchman was reportedly called by Helmut Marko on the Monday after Monza offering him a drive on the suggestion of a certain Max Verstappen. Obviously, De Vries said yes.

To me, this is a good move for Nyck De Vries as AlphaTauri is markedly better than Williams while also having the chance of progression into the main Red Bull team should he impress.

This leaves seats free at Williams and potentially Haas. The drivers most likely to fill these spots are Logan Sargeant (super licence dependent) for Williams and Schumacher to keep his seat at Haas (Hulkenberg or Giovinazzi are the other options).

On the subject of drivers, Daniel Ricciardo has also confirmed he will not be on the grid next season. Sad times for all the Australians and Ricciardo fans.

What do you think to silly season so far?

Do comment your thoughts below.