On paper, the result of the stopover in Japan this weekend did not look so terrible for Alpine. Struggling since the beginning of the season, the French team picked up three valuable points, placing its two drivers in the top 10, Esteban Ocon (9th) ahead of Pierre Gasly (10th) in the final lap. However, in the mixed zone, the second named did not hide his dissatisfaction, angry by the instructions of his team.
Pierre Gasly's frustration at the finish of the #JapaneseGP 😳
The Alpine rider had to let his teammate pass for 9th place, a few meters before crossing the #F1 pic.twitter.com/YnNrJBPTy4 🏁
— CANAL+ F1® (@CanalplusF1) September 24, 2023
It is the images of the lap of honor of the Rouennais, once the line crossed, which best made it possible to realize the extent of the problem. For 30 seconds, Gasly weighed behind his halo, multiplying mood gestures, including the beginnings of middle fingers outside his car. Moments earlier, he had been forced to return his 10th place to his teammate, after being encouraged for a long time by Alpine.
A contested strategy
"I have an instruction from the wall. We will exchange positions please," his race engineer Karel Loos told him on the penultimate lap. Before adding in the face of the protests of his pilot: "We will discuss this in the office, please. Leave your position. In Gasly's helmet, misunderstanding was the order of the day. "Wait, how's that? You are laughing at me. I was faster, I had better tyres. If he hadn't let me pass, I would have doubled him in any case. »
The points scorers at Suzuka 🇯🇵 #F1 #JapaneseGP pic.twitter.com/nFj1FosiDu
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 24, 2023
To understand the problem, you had to go back to lap 47. While eventual winner Max Verstappen was in the lead, Ocon was in trouble in his hunt behind Fernando Alonso. His team therefore invited him to give way to Gasly, who was running with better pace and fresher tyres... But after failing to catch up with the Spaniard, the latter was invited, in turn, to give up his position.
"I don't understand the decision"
"I don't understand the decision to change the places at the end, knowing that it had not been discussed before the race," he regretted bitterly at the finish. We had said that if they decided to make the undercut with Esteban to help him during his race, we would exchange positions at the end. That's what we did but in the last round, I was asked to exchange again. Which didn't make sense. Especially since in the drivers' championship, Gasly (46 points) is currently quite clearly ahead of his teammate (38 points).
Pierre Gasly in misunderstanding after Alpine's decision to exchange the seats of its drivers before crossing the finish line... 🤔 #JapaneseGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/8EM1wThxmb
— CANAL+ F1® (@CanalplusF1) September 24, 2023
Beneficiary of these behind-the-scenes decisions, Ocon was delighted, at the finish, a "crazy" race for Alpine. "We had a puncture at the start, I did three-quarters of the first lap on three wheels, without having too much damage on the flat bottom. We managed to change the tyres and start again and the pace was not so bad despite the damage, so it was a good rescue race. We are doing a good team job to bring both cars back into the points. It now remains to be seen how this Japanese episode will be digested by his teammate...
