Alpine held talks to defuse Ocon, Gasly ‘needle’

Alpine boss Oliver Oakes has revealed how he was required to defuse some “needle” between drivers Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly in Brazil. 

In the race, Alpine capitalised on not stopping for fresh intermediate tyres under the heavy rain, meaning that when the race was red-flagged for Franco Colapinto’s crash, leader Ocon and third-placed Gasly could swap tyres for free.

On a restart, Ocon was passed by Max Verstappen for the win, but still led home Gasly for a two-three result, with the 33 points moving Alpine from ninth to sixth in the constructors’ – a move that could be worth up to $20 million. 

Ocon had started fourth, but Gasly, who had qualified seventh for the sprint was down in 13th for the main race having been unable to set a final lap due to a red flag in Q2.

However, an incident involving Ocon barging past Gasly in the pit-exit led to new team boss Oakes having to step in.

“There was a little bit of needle after Q2, but it turned out fine,” Oakes told media including RacingNews365.

“In all honesty, there was nothing that anyone did wrong, it was really thanks to the red flag as it was a real race out of the pits to get a lap. 

“It wasn’t just Pierre who felt a bit hard done by, it was Max and a few others as well, but Esteban did his job. 

“At the end of the day, in those situations, I said to them: ‘Look, everyone has got to fight for themselves’ but it is nice that anything won’t be lingering into next week.

“But we still needed to have a chat, because you can’t hide from doing that.”