Gasly reflects on his partnership with Ocon as he addresses his own Alpine future

Pierre Gasly has given his take on how his partnership with Esteban Ocon has played out at Alpine amid the news that Ocon will depart the squad at the end of 2024, bringing their stint as team mates to an end.

When Gasly joined the incumbent Ocon at the team in 2023, there was much speculation over how the previously tense relationship that had developed between the pair during their junior racing careers could have an impact.

READ MORE: Alpine announce they will part ways with Ocon at end of 2024 season

However, when asked prior to this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix to reflect on the kind of team mate that Ocon had been, Gasly spoke of how they had managed to work together in a professional manner at Alpine.

“It’s a long story between Esteban and myself,” the Frenchman explained. “I think so far in the last year and a half, we’ve managed to work and cooperate very professionally, so I think this is important to mention.

“It hasn’t always been easy, as you would imagine from two very competitive drivers, but considering the story between us I think it’s been good.”

On whether Ocon’s impending exit from the team will have any effect on his own plans for 2025, Gasly responded: “To be honest, absolutely nothing. I think at the minute it’s quite clear the position I’m in, and for my future at the moment I have nothing really to announce. You guys will know in due time.”

While there have been several key moves in the driver market across recent weeks and months, Gasly says that he has not set himself a deadline for deciding on his next steps.

“I think the market at the moment is quite open and everybody is aware of what opportunities are out there,” he added. “At the moment I don’t really have too much detail on that. Everything is going well and I’m in discussions, and that’s about it.”

READ MORE: Famin talks up Alpine juniors as he says team have ‘no stress’ over 2025 options

It proved to be an eventful weekend for Alpine last time out in Monaco, with Ocon being handed a five-place grid drop for Canada after clashing with Gasly on the opening lap of the race. Ocon later apologised for the incident, while Gasly stated that a “clear instruction” from the team “wasn’t respected” by Ocon.

Pushed on whether any directives will be reinforced for the upcoming event in Montreal, Gasly remarked: “I think the directives were pretty clear in Monaco – unfortunately it’s not what happened on track, but I’m pretty confident moving forward that we won’t face any issues.”

Despite the dramatic intra-team collision – which forced Ocon to retire from the race due to damage sustained to his A524 – Gasly went on to score his debut point of the season with a P10 result, having also made it into Q3 of qualifying for the first time in 2024.

“It was pretty positive,” the 28-year-old said of his pace in Monte Carlo. “Our first Q3 of the year, [and we] managed to show some good speed throughout the whole qualifying.

“Definitely some good signs, obviously we know Monaco is a kind of particular track, so we know we might not be in a similar position on all the tracks, but definitely some good signs.”

READ MORE: Ocon opens up on Alpine exit as he dismisses suggestions of Monaco ‘punishment’

In terms of whether his prospects might be similar at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, Gasly sounded a positive note whilst also acknowledging that the team still have work to do.

“We know we’re still a bit on the back foot and we’re trying to rethink a bit how we want to approach this car concept,” he commented. “At the minute it’s mainly focusing on maximising what we’ve got, and we can see a lot can happen on race days.

"We’ll see, we’ll try again. We know we’re fighting for points right at the back of the top 10, but hopefully we can be in a position to repeat the performance of Monaco.”