Alpine wanted to sign their reserve driver Oscar Piastri after Fernando Alonso decided to join Aston Martin in 2023. However, some technical shortcomings in the agreement led to Piastri joining McLaren. As a result, the French team decided to sign AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly. While Gasly is a fantastic driver, to his own merit, the problem is he does not get along too well with their current driver and his future teammate Esteban Ocon. Alpine CEO, however, feels the two are mature now and can put their differences behind them.

Pierre Gasly’s transfer saga continued for too long. AlphaTauri wanted to make sure they had Nyck de Vries before would let Gasly go. A few other factors, including the negotiations with Alpine, further delayed completing the deal. However, once they completed the negotiations, both drivers, Gasly and De Vries, were announced by their respective teams for lineups in 2023 on the same day.

Now that Gasly is set to join his new team after the current season ends, it will be interesting to see how he gets along with his friend-turned-foe Esteban Ocon. Team CEO Laurent Rossi, while talking with RMC said, “I have the impression that they have told themselves that there is an opportunity. They are mature, I hope, and they want to do something nice together.” He continued, “At 15, you can do anything, but at 26, it’s time to get serious.”

On whether there will be one senior and one junior driver among the two, Rossi said, “There will be no hierarchy – there are none even now with Alonso and Ocon, and there will be none between Gasly and Ocon. They are equal”

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While the two Frenchmen do not see eye to eye now, they were once close friends. The two started their journey together in karting and practiced together on tracks. They lived pretty close to each other and hung out together as kids. Then what happened between the two that drove them apart?

What caused a rift between Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon?

Pierre Gasly appeared on Beyond the Grid where he revealed what growing up with Ocon was like. He talked about the times when it snowed. They were the only ones practicing on the track. He also told how they progressed together from karting to being in Formula 1 now.

On the reason for the rivalry, Pierre revealed, “The relationship unfortunately got a lot worse at some point in karting when we started to fight for the World Cup, European Championship, and also National Championship.” He continued, “And I really remember one weekend, the World Cup in 2010 in Portugal that he literally cut the track, one corner, cutting the grass and hit me in the last heat before the pre-final because I was going to start I think second or third [and I] think he didn’t really like it.”

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After that incident, the two stopped practicing together. However, as fate would have it, they both made it to the pinnacle of the sport. Moreover, they are set to be teammates next year. Small world, right?