Pierre Gasly requested a meeting with Ryan Reynolds after the Hollywood A-lister became a minority shareholder in his Alpine team.
The investment was announced earlier this week by the team. Parent company Renault sold a 24 per cent stake of the team for £171m to a group named Maximum Effort Investments.
Reynolds leads that group alongside fellow Wrexham AFC owner Rob McElhenney. Fellow actor Michael B. Jordan is also part of the group, alongside Otro Capital and RedBird Capital Partners.
Naturally, investment from such high-profile celebrities in a Formula 1 team was a hot topic of conversation in the Austrian Grand Prix paddock on Thursday. And both Alpine drivers were asked about it as they faced the media.
"I must admit I am personally a fan of [Reynolds] and his work," said Gasly, who clearly wants to get to know the Deadpool star better. "He is definitely one of my favourite actors and yeah, definitely super excited to meet him at some point during the season."
While Gasly has yet to meet Reynolds, his team-mate Esteban Ocon has already had the pleasure of doing so. He admitted as much as he gave his reaction to the news.
"I think it's fantastic," said the Frenchman. "I was extremely lucky to be able to chat on Tuesday with Ryan. We exchanged a couple of WhatsApps together.
"He told me I was invited, obviously, on the set in London for the Deadpool movie, so I'm definitely going to be going. He's someone that is very inspiring in what he does, also outside his acting world, he's an extremely talented businessman as well."
Alpine chief executive said he hopes the investment will "boost" the team's global profile and "enhance our performance at all levels". And Ocon is also praying that Reynolds and McElhenney's success with Wrexham will rub off on the F1 team.
He added: "I think all what Ryan has done recently, his company has been extremely successful. There hasn't been any failures that I know. I think he's a very good asset, him and his team behind, to our team – we know where we want to take the team, we want to take the team up there, to be fighting for podiums, for wins, as soon as possible."
