Alpine team management are confident Esteban Ocon and new team-mate Pierre Gasly will put aside their past differences and become more effective than a hindrance when they join the team next year.
After Alpine lost the first two elections for the seat, Gasly was chosen as Ocon’s new teammate for next year. Current Fernando Alonso is set to join Aston Martin as reserve driver Oscar Piastre shocks the team by switching to McLaren.
Gasly’s current employer Red Bull has agreed to release Alfatauri from his 2023 contract to join Alpine. He and Ocon – both from Normandy in France – had closely aligned careers in karting as youngsters, but their on-track rivalry intensified when they moved into single-seaters.
Gasly in 2010 Speaking about their relationship in 2018, he said: “I started beating him and he didn’t like it, so we’re not friends anymore.
Gasly beat Ocon to the 2013 Formula Renault Eurocup, then the two didn’t race again until they were on the F1 grid in 2017. However, Alpine team headmaster Otmar Szafnauer is confident that the pair will have a constructive relationship next year.
“They’ve known each other for a long time and raced together,” he said. “They are equally experienced, both very quick, both ambitious. So I think they’ll work well together.”
In the year Ocon, who joined Alpine in 2020 when it was known as Renault and is contracted to the team until at least the end of 2024, was told of Alpine’s interest in signing Gaslin before the announcement. Although Ocon has publicly announced that he will choose Mick Schumacher as his next teammate, this year his relationship with Gasly has improved since their junior days.
“We made an informed decision,” Szafnauer continued. “This means that if we make a decision, we need to be able to talk and work together with the whole team, including Esteban, to make sure it’s a team sport.”
“And Esteban was very supportive, and so was Pierre. They are professionals and no problem to work with. And hopefully, the friendship will rekindle. They were once friends, but from a professional point of view, we are both very happy to be working with each other.
This will be Gasly’s first race for the French team since his Formula E cameo with DAMS at the 2017 New York E-Prix.
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