At Alpine, sparks flew at the Formula 1 race in Monaco. Or rather, the cars. A collision on the first lap between Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly caused a lot of discussion. The question of blame is clear: Ocon caused the accident with a daring maneuver in the Portier curve and thus took himself out of the race. He also received a penalty for this.
Gasly was lucky to escape the incident unscathed, but he was annoyed after the race. And there was a simple reason for that: There had actually been a non-aggression pact between the two teammates. Whoever qualified further up (in this case Gasly) would be allowed to keep his position and would be given the better strategy, revealed the former AlphaTauri driver.
Pierre Gasly on Alpine collision: That was so unnecessary!
“We had clear instructions before the race about what we would do,” said Gasly. The second Alpine was supposed to provide support in his teammate’s fight for points. Ocon apparently ignored this instruction at the first opportunity, which almost led to the double retirement. “I was pretty shocked because it was so unnecessary,” said Gasly, explaining his feelings immediately after the incident.
“At that point, we were in ninth and tenth position. There was absolutely no reason to try anything and risk putting both cars out of the race,” Gasly continued to vent his anger and urged his compatriot to be more cautious: “As a team, you must never have a situation like that. We definitely have to talk about it because we cannot afford something like that, especially in a season like this.”
Esteban Ocon apologizes late: punishment and criticism from Alpine boss
Ocon himself avoided answering the question of blame in interviews immediately after his failure. It was only later that he apologized for the incident via social media. In the meantime, team boss Bruno Famin had already sharply criticized his driver’s failed maneuver and announced consequences.
The stewards gave him a grid penalty for the next race. The incident comes at a critical stage of the season for the driver market. According to unconfirmed reports, Ocon is working on a departure from the Renault brand after Alpine’s weak start to the Formula 1 season and is highly regarded by Williams.
Gasly is nevertheless counting on the fact that an internal team incident like the Monaco GP should not happen again and appealed to the professionalism of his teammate. “He is a professional driver, he knows what you can and cannot do, especially in the fight with your teammate. He is a good driver and knows what he is doing,” warned the 28-year-old.
The relationship between the duo has been a regular topic of discussion since 2023. Even before Gasly and Ocon became teammates at Alpine, it was an open secret that the two were not on good terms. During their time at the Enstone-based F1 team, they emphasized a professional relationship with each other and that these animosities are a thing of the past.
But since then they have gotten in each other’s way on the track more than once. Most recently at the Japanese Grand Prix, when both cars continued with damage. In Monaco, at least Gasly’s A524 remained intact, allowing him to score his second Alpine point of the season.
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