Alpine F1 driver Gasly becomes co-owner in French football club

The Frenchman has become the third partner in the semi-professional club that is based in the commune of Versailles, near Paris. It currently plays in the Championnat National, the third tier of the French football league system.

Gasly will join the club as a joint shareholder alongside President Alexandre Mulliez, who is the grandson of the founder of the Auchan retail group, and his partner Fabien Lazare.

Speaking about his involvement, Gasly said: "I am delighted to get involved with FC Versailles because I have always wanted to get involved in professional football.

"With Alexandre and Fabien, we share values, ambition and a keen competitive spirit which will allow us to positively develop the club. This is the start of a very beautiful story. Go Versailles!"

Mulliez has ambitions to turn Versailles into a fully professional club, and he hopes Gasly's involvement can help it in that task.

"Pierre brings a strong complement to Fabien and myself," he said. "I am convinced that our collaboration will be fruitful. As a long-time fan of F1, I am lucky to have Pierre by our side to achieve all our goals."

Versailles' home stadium is the Stade de Montbauron, which has a capacity of just more than 7500 people.

Gasly's football adventure comes against the backdrop of a challenging time on track this season, with his Alpine squad currently battling near the back of the grid.

The team's new A524 car has proved troublesome and neither Gasly nor team-mate Esteban Ocon have been able to score any points.

But despite the challenges, there is no sense of the team giving up in trying to improve this season.

Speaking ahead of this weekend's Australian Grand Prix, Gasly said: "Chipping away I'm definitely feeling ready for the next opportunity in Melbourne this weekend.

"It has not been the start to the season that we wanted, but, in reality, it was one we expected to be challenging and that has proven to be the case.

"I was in Enstone for a couple of days last week. It was good to spend time with many different people and to discuss a few things on how we can improve.

"I also took some time at the whole team debrief to say a few words on my feeling inside of the car. I see so much hunger and motivation in everyone at the team to improve our situation.

"We'll keep chipping away and we have Australia this weekend to keep understanding more about what we have in our hands."