The withdrawal of Sebastian Vettel caused a huge movement in the transfer market for the 2023 Formula 1 season, where Fernando Alonso ended up occupying the gap left by the German at Aston Martin and Oscar Piastri ended up at McLaren after a legal dispute between Alpine and those of Woking.
At the same time, in Enstone they were left without their second sword, so they had to go out and explore all the possibilities for that vacancy, even the director of the French team, Otmar Szafnauer came to put the number “14 or 16” of pilots that shuffled in the list. During the ‘Silly Season’ rumors arose around the name of Daniel Ricciardo, Jack Doohan , Antonio Giovinazzi or Nico Hülkenberg , but the French opted for a local.
On the Saturday morning of the 2022 Japanese Grand Prix, during the European dawn, Alpine confirmed the signing of Pierre Gasly, who was leaving Red Bull after nine years to embark on a new adventure with an old acquaintance from his time in the karting, Esteban Ocon. With this French duo, those in blue will try to complete their goal of fighting for the world title in a hundred races, although to do so, their drivers must create a strong bond of complicity, something that seemed lost according to what was said in the paddock.
As far as is known, there is no good relationship between the two Gauls who will become the first couple of that nationality in the Renault structure since 1982, but Ocon insists that nothing bad has happened between them: “To be honest I think we have an amazing story to tell, we started racing karts together, it’s crazy.”
“I have a lot of fantastic memories with Pierre [Gasly] when we were kids, although, we drifted apart a bit,” acknowledged the Évreux man. “He was doing different championships when he went to Japan, and I was in Europe, different teams, different eras, but I think it will be great to work together.”
“Now, not only am I from Normandy [a region of France], it’s the three of us from there, me, Pierre and the brand, so if we can take that team to the top and make Normandy win, it would be something special,” Ocon said.
When asked if the 2023 season gave him an option to work with Gasly and build a good relationship again, he replied: “I think so, there are some really good things we can create there. The minimum is that we do a perfect job to the team, and that we work well together, but I’m sure everything will be fine.
The new Alpine duo has already had a moment to talk about the signing of the AlphaTauri pilot, and Ocon revealed how that meeting was when he was put on the table if they had talked: “We had the photo shoot together and a couple of interviews . We spent a little time chatting. Yes, it will be fun.”
In the moments in which he was attending the press at the Japanese GP, the Frenchman had a small moment of tension, since he was asked why there was a rivalry with Gasly , although he downplayed it: “Why? Always you want to beat your teammate when you’re in Formula 1. It’s the same rivalry you have with anyone, because there’s no French championship, no Spanish-French championship like you [the media] want.”
A few months ago, when Fernando Alonso’s departure was announced, the director of Alpine acknowledged that Ocon would become the team’s main driver , something that is no longer so clear with the signing of Gasly.
For that reason, the Frenchman was also asked: “It’s not something I focus too much on, the important thing for me is to keep up the work and develop the new fund that we introduced in Singapore.”
“I am the leader of that, although Fernando [Alonso] also gives his feelings, I give mine, and it is the combined work that makes the important thing. Surely I will have more experience, I know how the car works, but it is vital for the team that Pierre catches up very quickly,” Ocon said.
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