Esteban Ocon says he’ll likely never be best friends with Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly, but it doesn’t matter as the pair have committed to building a productive working relationship together.
Gasly transferred to Alpine from AlphaTauri, a move that led to a lot of speculation, and to some dire projections, on how the two drivers would co-exist given their past history.
As childhood friends who were born and raised in Normandy, Ocon and Gasly cut their teeth in the competitive ranks of karting.
But the pair’s on-track rivalry eventually soured to the point where there was no love lost between the two young guns.
Today, their teenage feud is water under the bridge, although some still believe their entente at Alpine will be short-lived. But both men have signaled their intention of working together in their mutual interest and more importantly, in the interest of their team.
“Obviously you guys like the headlines and all these kinds of stories but we are both very professional and we are going to work the way we need to be performing,” said Ocon, speaking after the launch on Thursday in London of Alpine’s new A523 challenger.
“I don’t think we will ever be best friends but that doesn’t matter really, as long as the atmosphere is great inside the team – and that’s how it is at the moment and that’s how it will remain during the year.
“But the important thing is that we keep those open conversations that we are having at the moment and we will have them because we are not at the point where we can win every race.
“We need to develop this car, we need to get the maximum conversation flow going to find ideas going forward, so I’m not worried.
“It’s going to be a great collaboration together, it has already started, and I look forward to keeping it.”
Ahead of the start of their pre-season preparations with their team, Ocon and Gasly spent time together conducting promotional work for Alpine and its partners. And that provided the pair with was a good chance to rekindle their relationship according to Gasly.
“I’ve spent more time with him in the past two months than the last 10 years,” joked Alpine’s new charger.
“We’re grown-up people now, mature people, aware of the responsibility of being an Alpine driver and having a big group behind us.
“We just know we’ve got to work closely together if we want to be competitive and push the team forward. We have to work together and that’s why I have no doubt everything will be fine.”
©Alpine
As for Alpine team boss Otmar Szafnauer, the man in charge of keeping everyone honest, the American is looking forward to working with both his drivers and shed some insight on what he’s expecting from each.
“This is my fourth season working with Esteban and it’s been great to see him develop and mature into a fantastic Formula 1 driver,” he said.
“Esteban was the reason this team finished fourth in 2022 with sixteen points finishes courtesy of some very measured and consistent race drives. I’d like to see Esteban keep making big steps forwards, which will help this team on its journey.
“This will be the first time I’ve worked with Pierre and, as I’ve said before, we signed him for this team based on his natural talent, raw speed and experience in Formula 1.
“It’s a great line-up and one which motivates this team to produce a fast and reliable race car, which will allow them both to flourish and showcase their ability.”
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