Gasly and Ocon strengthen bond: 'We get along well'
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg. They are by no means friends. Now that Haas has contracted them for the upcoming season, both have said repeatedly that their relationship is good. Really. Just as, for example, new teammates Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly at Alpine have absolute respect for each other, although they are known not to be all but friends.
Every Formula 1 driver's first priority is to beat his teammate, especially if he is someone yiu hate. In the history of motorsport, it often happened that within a team, having good relationships is difficult. Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, for example, also showed last season that - although the Dutchman was already world champion - doing favours hardly happens.
Worse
Alpine chose Pierre Gasly as its successor to Fernando Alonso (who has an explosive character). In his younger years, the Frenchman was good friends with compatriot Ocon, but that relationship grew weaker with age. "We are not best friends, but we get on," Gasly said in an interview with Motorsport. "We did some events, we speak to each other, and when I look down the paddock, the relationship between other team-mates, I think there are definitely [some] worse than us."
According to Gasly, the majority of drivers have a difficult relationship with their teammate. He even mentions the percentage to be 60% of the drivers. But: slowly, Ocon and Gasly seem to bond. Last week, for instance, they were present (as well as Charles Leclerc) at an NBA match between the Detroit Pistons and the Chicago Bulls. That match was in Paris.