Ocon admits his fault in Monaco, Gasly believes he “must change”

We could have congratulated ourselves, at Alpine, to have finished in the points for the second time this season. We could also have welcomed Saturday's promising qualifying, with a first passage through Q3. However, what we will remember from this Monaco Grand Prix is ​​not encouraging, because we will mainly remember this accident (stupid? useless?) on the first lap between the two French drivers. At the entrance to the Portier bend, before the tunnel, Esteban Ocon attempted a very daring, if not almost impossible, maneuver on his teammate Pierre Gasly.

Result: a completely avoidable collision – especially since the red flag was waved around ten seconds later, which also calls into question the communication between the pit wall and the drivers – and with serious consequences, since Esteban Ocon had to give up. The Norman, found guilty in this accident, was penalized with five penalty places on the starting grid for the next Grand Prix, in Canada (June 7-9).

Contact between the 2 pilots Alpine ❌

Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly touch each other in the 1st lap, just before the red flag 😔#MonacoGP #F1 ???????? pic.twitter.com/FwYg6QGmYq

— CANAL+ F1® (@CanalplusF1) May 26, 2024

Obviously, despite the point collected thanks to Pierre Gasly, spirits were not in celebration on Sunday evening in the Principality at Alpine. The Frenchman was torn between the relative joy of a first point this season and the anger of an avoidable accident with his teammate.

Gasly: “This should never happen between teammates”

« Unfortunately, what happened in the first round should never happen, let alone between teammates, he declared to Canal+. We had fairly clear instructions at the start of the race on what we had to do, and it was clearly not to attack like that and take so many risks. These are things that will be discussed. Today, I'm just – let's say – happy that we still managed to save a point with the team and that we were able to finish the race with a car, even if today we should have finished with both of them, and at that time, there were 9 and 10 of us. So there were better things to do. »

Far from wanting to rekindle tensions within the French clan, number 10 from Alpine hopes Esteban Ocon will change his approach for the rest of the season, while the A arrows desperately need consistency during this laborious season. “He is a professional pilot. We know what to do and what not to do, even more so with our teammate. He's a very good driver, he knows what he's doing, so he just needs to change.", believes Pierre Gasly.

Ocon: “ Today’s incident is my fault”

For his part, Esteban Ocon – whose future at Alpine is written in dotted lines – first regretted “an unfortunate incident” on the channels of Canal+, before fully recognizing his fault via a message posted on his social networks. “Today's incident was my fault, the place was too narrow at the end and I apologize to the team. I hope the team finishes in the points today. »

Today's incident was my fault, the gap was too small in the end and I apologized to the team on this one. Hoping for a deserved points-finish for the team today.

- Esteban Ocon (@OconEsteban) May 26, 2024

During the race, Bruno Famin affirmed that this clash between his two drivers would not remain without consequences. “ These kinds of incidents are sad. This is exactly what we didn't want to see. Esteban's attack was completely out of circumstance. This was exactly what we did not want to see and we will learn the consequences. We're going to decide straight away. » Now let's wait to see whatAlpine will decide regarding its two pilots and the possible sanctions that will result.

ALSO READ > “We will decide straight away” promises Famin after the clash between Ocon and Gasly