Alpine’s third choice narrowly out-scores Ocon in his first season at team · RaceFans

Alpine’s failure to hold on to first Fernando Alonso, then Oscar Piastri last year handed an opportunity to Pierre Gasly to pursue his career outside of Red Bull.

Given the two embarrassing public snubs which preceded Gasly’s signing, no one at Alpine could pretend he was their first or even second choice to partner Esteban Ocon. Were they therefore surprised to see the ex-AlphaTauri racer rock up and outscore their incumbent driver?

On paper, an all-French line-up offered marketing advantages for the Renault-owned team. But there was the problematic detail that Ocon and Gasly hadn’t been the best of friends in junior competition. They are professionals, however, and potential flashpoints between the pair have largely been well-handled.

This was notably so in Australia, where Gasly had the good fortune to enjoy the most obvious example of the stewards failing to award a clear penalty all season. ‘No action’ was the verdict after Gasly went off at the standing restart on lap 56, rejoined the track unsafely and crashed into, of all drivers, his team mate. Both drivers “recognised and accepted” this had been a “first-lap” racing incident, the stewards recorded with doe-like naivety. It’s almost as if the pair had the same employer and, therefore, no reason to lobby for the team’s other car to be penalised – particularly given how close Gasly was to collecting a race ban at the time.

That was the third race weekend of the season and the first time Gasly qualified ahead of his new team. As he gained confidence at the wheel of the A523, Gasly’s superiority over a single flying lap began to tell. By the end of the year he held a clear advantage on this metric, Ocon only out-qualifying him twice in the 11 races which formed the second half of the season.

Ocon’s race pace remained dependably strong however, and this put the pair of them on a collision course at times. Over the final races the Alpine pit wall increasingly had to intervene to determine which of their drivers benefited strategically.

Gasly was incensed at being told to surrender ninth place to his team mate on the final lap at Suzuka, having previously been waved past him in an unsuccessful attempt to attack Alonso ahead. This began a series of races in which Gasly often failed to convert the advantage of starting ahead of his team mate.

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Ocon passed Gasly off the line in…