27-year-old F1 driver and his teammate have ‘tough’ relationship right now

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It’s safe to say that the relationship between Alpine’s two Formula 1 drivers Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly has never been the smoothest.

Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast, journalists Tom Clarkson and Fred Ferret were discussing the French pair.

With the season about to come to a close, there are still plenty of small battles to concentrate on in the Drivers’ Championship.

Lewis Hamilton still has an outside chance of catching Sergio Perez and the battle to finish fourth is hotting up.

There are also plenty of teammates who are trying to finish with bragging rights going into 2024.

Two drivers with just 16 points between them are Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly.

Both 27 years old, Gasly joined the team from AlphaTauri after Fernando Alonso’s move to Aston Martin.

It was expected that Oscar Piastri would step up into the team, but he ended up at McLaren alongside Lando Norris.

This driver merry-go-round won’t be happening this winter, with only one seat left on the grid to fill.

However, the two French drivers might hope that the team considers replacing the other.

Ocon and Gasly’s difficult relationship at Alpine

Journalist Tom Clarkson asked if everything is OK on the inside at the team and Ferret replied: “I think it’s okay and it’s not okay. They are two tough drivers and they know each other since they were born.

“They started karting together since they were three, so they know every trick of the other, they know how to behave in the team because they looked in the karting teams how they were behaving.

“The parents were friends so it’s kind of difficult and I’m pretty sure that for Esteban [Ocon], it must be tough to be a long-time part of the Alpine team, and seeing a new guy coming in and being in front of him.

“He’s a real competitor and he can’t accept that. He worked like hell when he was the teammate of Fernando [Alonso] and he tried to be at the level of Fernando and he managed to do it.

“So, now I think Pierre is more than 12 or 15 points ahead with two races to go, it’s impossible that can earn a miracle podium but that will be tough.”

Alpine will hope that Gasly and Ocon’s relationship improves and they’ve clashed a few times already this season.

They collided during a chaotic Australian Grand Prix when they were both on course to score points.

Gasly was also fuming that he had to let his teammate through across the chequered flag in Japan.

Let’s see if things improve going into 2024 both on track and off it for the French team!