Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly: a look back at their partnership at Alpine

The Norman roots of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon have not been forgotten by journalists. On Tuesday, February 18, prior to the launch event at the O2 Arena in London, the media outlet Ici Normandie (formerly France Bleu) was able to speak with the two drivers, who reflected on their partnership at Alpine F1 Team.

A team of professionals

At the end of their collaboration, Pierre Gasly believes that they were both a good choice for the team: “We proved that we were professionals,” he declares. “Everyone said it would be a complete mess with the two of us in the team, but I think it was precisely fortunate to have two talented and motivated drivers like us.” Regarding the rivalry between these two former teammates, Pierre Gasly puts it into perspective: for him, it’s a natural phenomenon that exists between all drivers: “I think the rivalry has always been there anyway. I have 19 rivals on the grid, then there are the animosities between each and I think that’s up to us to manage, but it won’t change.”

Their talent and professionalism have allowed them some great successes, despite the development difficulties encountered by the Alpine team. And so the two French drivers found themselves side by side on the podium in Brazil in 2024.

Surmountable problems

Their collaboration was not without incident: this seems natural with the immense pressure on Formula 1 drivers. For example, there was a collision between the two drivers in 2023 during the Australian Grand Prix. But the two former childhood friends had already had several years to get used to racing on the same track. Let’s remember that they have been racing against each other for many years. They were already competing against each other in karting, for example in Anneville-Ambourville in Seine-Maritime.

« When you think about it, it’s the kind of story where in 20-30 years we’ll look back and say: it was quite incredible to have grown up together, to have started our beginnings in Anneville-Ambourville in Normandy together, when we were told it was impossible to make it to F1. In the end, we both made it, we found ourselves in the same French, Norman team, we can be happy about it »

These two drivers will therefore have defied the statistics no matter what. Pierre Gasly doesn’t want to be forgotten. And for him, that’s enough in itself for their shared history in motorsport, and especially in F1, to leave a lasting impression.

A grudge on Ocon’s side?

If Pierre seems to find their shared experience fruitful, what about Ocon? If he could have been disappointed, it was evidently not because of Pierre Gasly. It’s the Alpine F1 Team that Esteban Ocon holds a grudge against. He claims that the team did not trust him. According to him, any request for change on his part was either not taken into account or only after many months.

« I do the same work as I did before, except the team is extremely attentive, which is really nice », explains the new driver at Haas. « It was incredibly impressive to see the huge amount of work there was, all the things I asked for were applied, even redesigning an entire steering wheel. These are things that would have taken 8 or 10 months elsewhere but happened in a month and a half here, so it’s not something I’m used to. »

We now have to see what the respective performances of each of these drivers will be.