For the first time, two French drivers are racing for the same team on Sunday at the Bahrain Formula 1 Grand Prix. The two Normans Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, former competitors, must play together this time.
The start of the Formula 1 world championship with the first Grand Prix of the season in Bahrain on Sunday March 5. Max Verstappen and his Red Bull team put the title back into play. On the French side, for the first time since 1994, there is an entirely blue-white-red team. Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly are reunited at Alpine. Gasly was recruited this winter to replace Fernando Alonso. The two pilots, who have had a rocky relationship in the past, must manage to get along.
The duo is closely observed, because it is very rare for a team to choose to associate two drivers who have had serious disputes. Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon had tough battles on the karting tracks before meeting again during the off-season. “With Esteban, we spent more time together than in the last two years”says Pierre Gasly.
A rivalry that “pushed them to the top”
A reunion somewhat forced by fate but, with hindsight, Pierre Gasly judges that this duel with his Norman rival forged both of them the character necessary to reach the elite of motorsport: “Without this kind of competition that we’ve had since we were little, we wouldn’t have made it to Formula 1. It always helped push us to the top.”
Over the past few weeks, the two drivers from Normandy have been involved in essential behind-the-scenes work: testing the new car and agreeing on the improvements to be made. “The important thing, in the end, is that we manage to work at the top together to be able to develop this car as well as possible and progressinsists Esteban Ocon. It’s always been like that in the history of F1, it’s always the teams that came up with the right ideas with the drivers who gave feedback on what needed to be improved on the car.”
AT From this weekend, it’s time for competition, to measure on the track the ability of the two Normans to live together in the same team. Laurent Rossi, the managing director of Alpine, is extremely vigilant. “I have no illusions, there will be friction”he acknowledges.
“Any rider wants to beat his teammate first. Why? Because he has the same machine and the comparison is direct.”
Laurent Rossi, CEO of Alpineat franceinfo
But Laurent Rossi is waiting “that they overcome this little rivalry”This “local cockfight that no one is interested in”. He hopes they “behave like mature pilots, adults”. “They need to be busy with growth and maturity that is important to them and to the team,” he insists. Alpine, fourth in the last constructor’s championship, hopes to close the gap with the best. The team absolutely needs two pilots in mind above all collective.