Before Spain comes Canada. At least from Alpine’s perspective. The French racing team is taking the team order dispute from Montreal to Barcelona. Although Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon both scored important points at the Canadian GP, the anger over a position change shortly before the end of the race dampened the celebratory mood. What was unfair and wrong for Ocon was not implemented quickly enough for Gasly. The topic of team orders is still not off the table on the Thursday before the Spanish Grand Prix.
“It was a shame because I personally think we had a chance of finishing eighth,” recalls Gasly. A few laps before the end of the race in Montreal, Ocon received instructions on the radio to let his teammate pass. The hope: to catch up with Daniel Ricciardo in P8.
“Unfortunately, Esteban needed two laps to make the swap and Ricciardo was able to build a gap of two seconds,” said Gasly, annoyed, just as he did almost two weeks ago. The Frenchman tried in vain to catch up with the Racing Bull.
He still gained one position because the Alpine cars were not swapped back. But that doesn’t seem to be consolation enough. “It was just a shame that the swap wasn’t done immediately when the team asked for it,” said Gasly. “We could have fought for two extra points. But it happened and we’re moving on.”
Esteban Ocon: We were assured of equal treatment
Ocon was also very frustrated and angry after the Formula 1 race in Canada. He described his team’s instructions as unfair and wrong. While Gasly spoke of an unfortunate delay by Ocon, the latter even said that he had been too nice. However, he does not want to bring up the incident again in Barcelona.
“I won’t say anything about that,” said Ocon firmly. “I think the most important thing is to look forward and focus on this weekend. What happened in Canada happened. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”
Looking ahead is all well and good, but the topic of team orders could still concern Ocon in the future. After all, he is the driver who will definitely no longer drive for Alpine in 2025. “Equal treatment in the team has been discussed several times,” the 27-year-old assures. “Bruno [Famin] has also told the press that we will have equal treatment. This is of course very important in order to finish the season well together. We have been assured that this will be the case.”
So everything seems to have been settled between the Alpine drivers, right? Wrong. When asked whether the rules for fighting between teammates were discussed and whether the places would be swapped back in such a situation in the future, Ocon replied: “No, that was not discussed.”