Pierre Gasly sent Alpine ‘clear message’ about Esteban Ocon in podcast appearance

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Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon will end their partnership at Alpine in 10 races’ time. Ocon is leaving after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to join midfield rivals Haas.

Gasly arrived at the start of 2023 after leaving Red Bull junior team AlphaTauri (now RB). It was always going to be a risk to reunite the two childhood friends.

Gasly and Ocon fell out over a karting race at the start of their journey, and their relationship has been tense since. The team have avoided the kind of explosion some may have feared, but there have been two collisions.

They were involved in a race-ending tangle at the 2023 Australian GP, and then in Monaco, Ocon made dramatic contact with Gasly on the first lap with a late lunge at Portier. At that point, former team principal Bruno Famin knew change was needed.

Before the next race in Canada, Alpine announced a parting of ways with Ocon. It was described as a mutual decision.

Gasly’s future was still unresolved at that point, but he subsequently signed a new multi-year deal. He still doesn’t know the identity of his teammate, though Martin Brundle says Jack Doohan is the favourite.

Pierre Gasly hinted that he was more of a team player than Esteban Ocon

Speaking on the Beyond the Grid podcast last year, Gasly addressed the dangers of an ‘unhealthy rivalry’ between teammates. He was able to prevent that at Alpine, but only by ‘managing’ Ocon.

“I know for my team to perform, they need to work in a healthy environment,” he said. “There cannot be an unhealthy rivalry going down between the drivers.

“And that’s something I’m aware of. I’m really trying to be careful, and personally manage Esteban and manage the way that we interact. I take my distance.”

According to The Race, this was likely intended as a ‘clear message’ to the team bosses. It showed that he was ‘more motivated’ to maintain harmony within their ranks.

Alpine would have considered both drivers’ perspectives on the situation. But externally, it looks as if they decided to throw their weight behind Gasly, aware that the combination wasn’t sustainable long-term.

Ocon delivered Alpine’s one and only Grand Prix victory to date when he won in Hungary in 2021. Gasly is responsible for the team’s most recent podium, having finished third at Zandvoort last year.

Esteban Ocon thinks Fernando Alonso may have been right about Alpine

Ocon harbours some ill-feeling towards Alpine, but not necessarily because they were inclined to let him leave. Instead, he thinks they could have done more to achieve success during their five-year stay.

Ocon says Alpine consistently failed to listen to his feedback, and both Fernando Alonso and Daniel Ricciardo had faced the same problem. That meant they were dealing with the same issues for multiple years.

Implicitly, the Frenchman was suggesting that Alonso was right to leave. Ocon will take on a team leader role over at Haas next year alongside the rookie Oliver Bearman.

The events of recent months may have offered vindication. Famin has left his post, succeeded by Oliver Oakes, while Alpine are set to abandon their works operation and become a Mercedes customer instead.