Romain Grosjean has said that Alpine's decision to field an all-French driver line-up in 2023 could result in fireworks and friction within the team as they both vie to be 'top dog'.
Since the end of 2022, Fernando Alonso has departed the squad for Aston Martin, with Pierre Gasly joining from AlphaTauri to replace him. He will line-up on the grid alongside Esteban Ocon this year.
Gasly and Ocon both come from the same region in north France and were childhood friends and rivals in karting, but more recently there's been enmity between them ever since they both made it into Formula 1.
Both drivers have insisted that such clashes are now behind them, and team boss Otmar Szafnauer is confident that they will be able to work well together to ensure Alpine retains P4 or better in the constructors championship.
But Grosjean - who drove for the team when it was Renault and Lotus, subsequently moving to Haas before leaving F1 at the end of 2020 following a huge accident in Bahrain - fears relations at Enstone may prove strained if not downright explosive.
“It can go bad, I’m not going to lie to you,” Grosjean said on his YouTube channel. “If each of the drivers wants to be the French driver doing the job for the French team, it can go south.
“Alpine is going to have to keep an eye on the relationship between the two of them. If it starts to be an ego fight to be the best French driver on the grid in the only French team, things can go bad.
"But it can go really well, too," he continued, explaining that the competition between the pair should mean that both drivers will be motivated to do their absolute best this season.
“They are two guys who were not best friends when they were young," he continued. "But they have matured a lot, they both know what it’s like to win a race.”
Gasly won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in 2020, while Ocon took his maiden F1 victory at the Hungarian GP in 2021. Neither finished on the podium last year, after a season dominated by Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes.
“They both have a Formula 1 win," Grosjean acknowledged. "If they do fit well together and can work well together, it could be a very nice and fun success story for a brand like Alpine. That’s one of my wishes.”
Since leaving F1, Grosjean had moved to the US where he has been competing for the Andretti Autosport team in the open wheel NTT IndyCar Series alongside another F1 graduate, Alexander Rossi.
Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
