When Pierre Gasly signed with Alpine to join Esteban Ocon for the 2023 season, it seemed like this was the start of a new era for the Renault-owned team.
With two young, grand prix winning French drivers and Renault only doubling down on their Alpine brand across their other motorsports endeavours, this should have been an exciting time for the Enstone-based team.
However, Gasly’s time with Alpine has been a turbulent one to say the least – but it’s not been down to him or due to his relationship with his team mate, like many feared would be the case.
Rather than growing as a force, Alpine took a clear step backwards between the end of 2023 and the start of this year. That left Gasly and Ocon facing the unenviable prospect of battling with what was likely the slowest car in the field for the start of the season.
Gasly did not do a bad job adjusting to the team’s harsh new reality, but Ocon clearly did a better one. Gasly was out-qualified five straight times by his team mate to start the season and did not seem to have the same race pace as Ocon early on either.
Eventually, after multiple key technical figures left the team following their poor start to the season, Alpine began to pick up more pace. While Ocon was given the team’s new floor in China, Gasly still gave a solid account of himself on his way to 13th in the grand prix. His first point of the season came in Monaco, but only after surviving a very low-IQ move by Ocon into Portier on the opening lap which almost ruined both their races.
Gasly’s best performances of the season followed in Canada and Spain, where he added to his points tally with more top ten finishes, but there was some controversy in how he finished ahead of Ocon in Montreal after his now-departing team mate was asked to let him by in the closing laps. He then grabbed another point in Austria, recovering from an underwhelming performance on Saturday to pick up the pieces from Max Verstappen and Lando Norris‘ late clash to take tenth.
Frustration would follow for Gasly in back-to-back rounds approaching the summer break. His British Grand Prix weekend was a write-off for reasons entirely out of his control, forced to pull out of the race on the formation lap with a gearbox problem, then he had to put up with more problems in Hungary as he started from the pit lane after a power unit change, then retired from the race with a hydraulic leak just before half distance.
Although he sits just ahead of his team mate in the championship after 14 rounds, it’s hard to feel like Gasly has shown more than his team mate over the course of the season so far. But with Alpine finding momentum, Gasly should have plenty of opportunities to ensure he ends the season as the clear victor of the battle between the pair of them.
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