Alpine have been having a tough two years in Formula 1. “When it rains, it pours,” they say. And it’s pouring for Alpine. Riddled with difficulties outside the track, they found themselves in a bind at the Japanese GP. They had to pacify Pierre Gasly after telling him to let Esteban Ocon by during the final lap. But why did they do so?
Messy Communication
During every Formula 1 race, there is usually one driver who’s faster than the other. At the Japanese GP, it was Pierre Gasly for Alpine. He had started ahead of Esteban Ocon and kept his nose clean. On the other hand, his teammate found himself in an incident on the opening lap.
However, due to some good race pace, Alpine had both cars in the points at the Japanese GP. A lot of their direct competitors retired which helped them as well. However, a decent performance was marred by drama that could have been avoided by clear communication.
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Despite Pierre Gasly being faster, he found himself behind Esteban Ocon due to differing strategies. Alpine asked Ocon to let him by so he could go on and attack Fernando Alonso. They told Ocon that Gasly would give the place back if he couldn’t, but didn’t tell this to Gasly.
Gasly obviously thought that he would’ve got by anyway, but he would’ve hurt his tyres in the process. Therefore, he was fuming that Ocon finished ahead of him at the Japanese GP despite being slower. Here’s the chatter picked up by Formula 1 on the radio during the race.
Here’s What the Drivers had to Say
After the Japanese GP, Pierre Gasly said, “I would have overtook him anyway on the race track because I had fresher tyres and this was part of the strategy, it was telling us before the race. Until then, it was all similar, it’s just the last lap. But it’s something we’ll talk together, we’ll explain and I’m sure next time the other way around Esteban will play it fair.”
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Meanwhile, Esteban Ocon said, “I’ve been with this team since four years and the rule has always been the same. If you swap the position initially, which I did to Pierre I gave him the position, if you don’t get the car in front then you always switch back before the end. It was the same with Daniel, it was the same with Fernando.”
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