Pierre Gasly scores his first point of the season in Monaco, but remains frustrated after his incident
Pierre Gasly was understandably frustrated by the incident between him and Esteban Ocon on the first lap of the Monaco Grand Prix. For his part, Ocon acknowledged his fault and apologized on social networks.
It is one of the worst scenarios that an F1 team can fear: a collision between its two drivers. A fear that materialized in Monaco for Alpine, when a very optimistic Esteban Ocon tried to overtake Pierre Gasly. Except he absolutely didn’t have the space, which resulted in a collision between the two cars, Ocon’s being lifted into the air. Driver number 31 had to retire and was given a 5-place grid penalty for the Canadian Grand Prix.
At Alpine, we saw red following this incident that could very well have been avoided. Even if Pierre Gasly managed to get into the points for the first time this season, finishing 10th. « We knew that Monaco was a place where there would be an opportunity, even though we have had difficulties with the car since the beginning of the year », he said after the race, expressing both his relief at scoring points and his frustration over the incident. « Unfortunately, it was not as peaceful as expected. I don’t want to go into details, but these things should not happen. »
« It was a clear instruction from the team on what needed to be done, what we were supposed to do, and it was not respected [by Ocon],” added Pierre Gasly. « I’m just glad we managed to get away with only some damage to the front wing and a few minor things, and luckily with the red flag we were able to fix it.”
Esteban Ocon, on the other hand, admitted his responsibility in the collision, offering apologies on social media. « Today’s incident was my fault, the gap was too small in the end and I apologize to the team for it », he said, acknowledging his share of responsibility in the incident.
After being informed of Ocon’s apologies on social media, Pierre Gasly considered that it is the most important. We cannot afford as a team to risk having both cars out of the race, he stated. Potentially, we might have been able to score points with both cars. We will discuss it, I am sure we will move forward and find solutions in the future.
