Pierre Gasly: Esteban Ocon ‘needs to make a change’ after Monaco collision

Pierre Gasly said he was “shocked” and “disappointed” when there was contact made between himself and Esteban Ocon on the first lap of the Monaco Grand Prix.

The two Alpine drivers collided on the exit of Portier as Ocon looked to find a way by his team-mate, a move which Gasly claimed went against the team’s strategy – as he had priority on track having started ahead.

Pierre Gasly ‘quite shocked’ at ‘very unnecessary’ Esteban Ocon contact

Additional reporting by Sam Cooper

Alpine team principal Bruno Famin voiced his disapproval at the contact and said there would be “consequences” for Ocon in particular, who since posted on social media to admit culpability for the contact.

He ended up retiring from the race after a hefty impact on landing after the two bumped wheels, while Gasly was able to get going again and score his first point of the season come the chequered flag.

But when Gasly was asked if Ocon tried to get ahead in looking out for his interests, given both drivers come to the ends of their respective contracts this season, he responded to media including PlanetF1.com in Monaco: “I don’t want to answer that.

“As a professional driver, you just know what to do and what not to do and even more with your team-mate.

“So he’s a good driver, a very good driver, he knows what he does. So he just needs to make a change.”

On the incident itself, the two drivers had been jostling for position through the first part of the first lap but came to blows at Portier, with the resultant impact on landing for Ocon putting him out of the race entirely.

Gasly spoke of his disappointment at how that took place, with the pair having also collided at the 2023 Australian Grand Prix in their time as Alpine team-mates to date.

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“I was quite shocked, and you know, it was very unnecessary,” he said of the move.

“And for the team, you know, you should never have such a situation, especially between teammates. So, just sad.

“Disappointed with the situation, and especially [because] we had clear instructions before the race on what to do and whoever qualified ahead, [the] trailing car was supposed to help throughout the race with the strategy. But unfortunately, didn’t happen.

“And that, we definitely need to speak because we can’t afford especially in the season like that, to have points [dropped], all might be crucial at the end of the year, and just got to make sure that it doesn’t happen again.”

In taking responsibility for the crash after it happened, Ocon hopes to be able to move on at the next race in Canada in a fortnight’s time.

Gasly was pleased to have scored his first point of the season regardless, but knows that both he and his team-mate are representing the work of a wider organisation at Alpine, and he does not want that to go to waste on track.

“I mean, on that side, yes,” Gasly replied when asked if Ocon’s admission makes it easier for the team to move on.

“On the other side, we’re still seeing a car that is damaged, that didn’t finish and potentially could be in the points, and we came a couple of centimetres from having both cars in the wall.

“In the end, we got away with it and I’m just pleased that we saw the finish line on my side, and we managed to get that point.

“But yeah, we don’t want to see that and, at the end of the day, we’ve got 1200 people working behind us.

“They’re all working their arse off to give us the best car possible and they’re all sitting on watching the race on Sunday and they should not see such a situation.

“So yeah, we will discuss it and we’ll do better.”

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