Last weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix saw another chapter in the ongoing saga of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon's on-track battles in F1.
Despite Alpine's established "rules of engagement," the teammates found themselves embroiled in yet another contentious fight although it was one that was relatively inconsequential for the Enstone squad.
In the first half of the race, Ocon passed Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso for P11, with Gasly just behind the duo. But on the run-up to the Red Bull Ring’s tight Turn 3 hairpin, Gasly slipstreamed past both drivers.
But as they reached the uphill corner, Ocon ran his teammate wide on the exit to reclaim the position, the pair just nearly avoiding a costly collision.
"What was that? Why did he just push me off the track?" vented a surprised Gasly on the radio. The move also drew a big “Wow!” from Alonso who had a front seat to the commotion.
A few laps later, in a more sensible maneuver, Gasly pulled alongside Ocon again, taking the outside line at Turn 4 to gain the inside line for the next corner and secure 11th place. Gasly celebrated the successful pass with a simple "Ciao!" over the radio.
The one-time Grand Prix winner went on to deliver the final championship point to himself and to his team, while Ocon finished P12.
Queried on his tight battle with Ocon and on the clarity of Alpine’s rules of engagement, Gasly made clear that he had kept things “clean” on his side.
“I think it was as clear as it could be before the race,” he told the media. “But I can only control what happens in my car, I can’t control this guy. It is what it is.
“It was intense. I mean, we’re Formula 1 drivers so you’ve got to race and that’s what we enjoy.
“Obviously it’s nice to have some space, but sometimes there’s no space, and then you’ve got to find other ways to make it through.
“I think I kept it clean on my side, managed to get a point out of it so that’s the most important.”
Gasly suggested that he’ll likely further discuss with Ocon their latest flash point.
“We’ll review that,” he said. “It’s something we’ll have to discuss between us, but we’ve already discussed it and we’ll see if there’s anything else we can do.
On the other side of the Alpine garage, Ocon considered that his tussle with Gasly was simply a case of “hard and fair” racing.
“Nothing really to comment,” he told the official F1 channel. “It was good racing.”
Ocon also experienced some misfortune, losing a chunk of bodywork after riding the kerbs following Gasly's overtake.
“It’s crazy that everyone tells me that because I just went to speak to the engineers and they didn’t see it,” he said.
“If we have a piece of carbon flying, and we don’t see it on the performance load, it’s quite worrying I have to say. I’m going to have a good check around the car with the guys to see what it is.
“The guys didn’t tell me anything so that’s something we need to understand.”
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