Alpine F1 team principal Otmar Szafnauer says he hopes Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon will rekindle their broken friendship when they work together as teammates in 2023.
On Saturday, October 8th, it was announced that Pierre Gasly will leave the Red Bull family after nine years and join the Alpine F1 team in 2023 to replace Fernando Alonso.
Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon have been childhood friends and good family ties, but since they both entered F1 their relationship has soured and their feud is an open secret in the paddock. rice field.
So when Pierre Gasly first emerged as a possible driver for the Alpine F1 team, many paddock insiders were quick to drop Gasly as an unlikely scenario for the two to work together.
However, Otmar Szafnauer said Alpine F1 Team had discussed the situation with both drivers.
“I made an informed decision,” said Otmar Szafnauer when asked about the relationship between Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon.
“We spoke with the whole team beforehand, including Esteban, to make sure that if we make a decision, it’s a team sport and we need to be able to work together and optimize it.”
“Esteban was very supportive and so was Pierre. They are professionals. And they have no problem working together. And I hope the friendship will be rekindled. They We were friends at one point, but from a professional point of view we are both very happy to work together.
“They have known each other for a long time and have raced together. They are about the same experience, both very fast and ambitious, so I think they will work well together.”
Otmar Szafnauer has revealed that Pierre Gasly meets all the conditions the Alpine F1 team had in mind when it came to replacing Fernando Alonso.
“As we all know there were vacancies after or around the summer break,” said Otmar Szafnauer.
“And then we started looking at who would be the best fit and had some criteria to work with.”
“And the three things we wanted were, of course, a fast driver with speed, an experienced driver and at the same time young. Not many people do, and Pierre definitely falls into that category.”
“He seemed like a good fit for us, so we put him on the shortlist and we’ve been trying to make it through.”
Otmar Szafnauer says things happened shortly after Fernando Alonso’s departure was confirmed and it soon became clear that Oscar Piastri had decided to go to McLaren.
“Probably a week or so?” revealed Otmar Szafnauer.
“I mean, first we make a short list. When Oscar didn’t seem 100 percent sure about some of the contractual issues we had, we weren’t sure who else could be. We started working on the shortlist and Pierre was on that list.”
“One of the reasons was that he will be available in 2024, not 2023. And as I said, he clearly has the youth, the experience and the speed. No, it’s hard to say for a lot of drivers who are still in Formula 1.”
“Even the other two you mentioned[Alonso and Piastri]didn’t have them. We are lucky to have Pierre and we look forward to working with him.”
Otmar Szafnauer insists Red Bull were easy to deal with despite the delay in getting Pierre Gasly’s release finalized.
“There are a few elements to everything, but what I can say is that it was really easy to work with Franz (Tost), Helmut (Marko) and Christian (Horner) to secure Pierre’s future. So,” added Otmar Szafnauer.
“They were very precise, true to their word and did exactly what they said they were going to do. It was a pleasure to work with them.”
Asked if he was relieved the deal was done, Otmar Szafnauer said: “It’s great to move forward. This is for next year. So this year we still have to focus, we have to achieve. , need to do a good job”
“But we know next year is set and it’s good to be able to do it this year and be ready for next year.”
Category: F1 / Alpine / Esteban Ocon / Pierre Guthrie