Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon share ‘beautiful’ childhood story after Sao Paulo Grand Prix podiums

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Alpine scored an unlikely double podium during the Sao Paulo Grand Prix when they took advantage of a mid-race red flag.

Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly had yet to make a pit stop for new Intermediate tyres and moved up the order when leaders George Russell and Lando Norris came in for new sets before the red flag.

After a few laps under Safety Car due to the increasingly heavy rain, Franco Colapinto crashed on the pit straight and caused the race to be stopped by Race Control. This effectively gave everyone a free pit stop, as per the red flag rules on changing tyres.

At the restart, Ocon led the race from Verstappen and was briefly pulling away before another Safety Car gave Verstappen the chance to overtake him for the lead. Both Alpine drivers held on to their podium spots in the final laps of the race to secure their best finish of the season.

In a post-race interview with Viaplay, Ocon and Gasly recalled a touching childhood story from their days karting with dreams of making it to F1.

Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly recall touching childhood story

Both Gasly and Ocon were rivals during karting which led to some tension between them throughout their time as teammates at Alpine, notably when they collided at this year’s Monaco GP.

The pair were chatting in the normal driver’s pen area when Ocon said he recalled a period from their days karting during the in-lap.

Ocon: “Do you remember in Anvil when we were driving in the rain?”

Gasly: “Even in the snow! Takes me back to the days when we were the only ones turning up at the karting track, freezing cold in the rain, it’s all worth it.”

Ocon: “It paid off today and I tell you, when we did the formation in the in-lap that was the first thing that came to my mind.”

Gasly: “What a beautiful story that is. This is a moment of a lifetime, as a kid from where we came from to end up as teammates was against all odds, but to end up on the same podium is more against all odds.”

Alpine leapfrogs rivals in Constructors’ Championship with double podium

The result is encouraging for Alpine amid a number of management changes behind the scenes and the controversial closure of its engine facility in Viry Chatillon.

The season started off as one of their worst with a car that was seemingly overweight and lacked any performance to compete in the midfield.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Alpine F1 Team from team principal to lineage

Before this weekend, Alpine’s best result was ninth but this ended the team’s podium drought that dates back to Gasly’s at the 2023 Dutch GP.

The result enabled them to leapfrog ahead of Haas, RB, and Williams to sixth in the Constructors’ Championship standings, having arrived at Brazil ninth only just ahead of Sauber who have yet to score any points.