For a fourth successive Grand Prix, Pierre Gasly scored points as Alpine’s slow gains continue.
Once again, however, a lot of the spotlight was on his latest episode with teammate Esteban Ocon.
On lap 32, Ocon made a late but legal defensive move against Gasly.
Three laps later, it got spicy. Ocon passed Alonso into turn 1, leaving him vulnerable against the Spaniard and his teammate on the run up to turn 3. With Ocon covering the inside and holding off Alonso, Gasly look to sweep around the outside. However, he was escorted into the run-off.
Six laps later, it kicked off again. Ocon moved across a bit under braking as he defended into turn 3. On the run to T4, Ocon got DRS and pulled ahead of his teammate. However, Gasly was having none of it as he swept around the outside and completed the pass into turn 6.
Speaking about it after the race, the 2020 Italian Grand Prix winner was not best pleased with his teammate.
“It was intense. Some will say a bit too much.
“I am sure on the pit wall they didn’t really like the fact that I had to run wide because I wasn’t really given any space.
“Never easy, right? At the end of the day up to me to get past him and that’s what I did.
“I was expecting to be given slightly more space by my teammate.”
Asked about rules of engagement, Gasly hinted that Ocon once again decided to do his own thing as they battled for P11 at the time.
“I think it was as clear as it could be before the race.
“But I can only control what happens in my car, I can’t control this guy. It is what it is.”
Gasly started in P13 but jumped Ricciardo at the start to move into 11th following Leclerc’s stop to change a broken front wing.
With Ricciardo undercutting the Alpines at the first round of stops and not getting that place back despite a tyre offset in both stints, Gasly’s overtake on teammate Ocon was critical as Norris’ retirement allowed him to maintain his points streak.
Although he got within DRS range of Ricciardo at the end, the Aussie was also getting that service from Magnussen.
“Apart from that, it was a good race. Very strong lap one. I had not the best start, review that.
“But then after a strong lap one, I think we managed pretty well the whole race with the tyre we had. We finished on the medium.
“It felt like the tyres were quite gone at the end, but I tried to get close to Daniel, get past him. Unfortunately we got within the DRS of Magnussen and couldn’t make a move.
“Looking at the positives, it’s our fourth race in the points, Monaco, Canada, Barcelona and here. Very different tracks but we seem to be finding that consistency which is important. We better keep that momentum going.
“We know we have some upgrades coming later on in the year, so I am just pleased with the small steps forward we’re making.”
Asked if he think he lost vital race time because of the fight with Ocon, Gasly says, “we’ll review that”.
The 28-year-old says he plans on talking to his teammate again about it, even if Gasly seems doubtful anything will change between the pair who have a fierce rivalry.
“It’s something we’ll have to discuss between us, but we’ve already discussed it and we’ll see if there’s anything else we can do.”
