The Alpine driver pairing in 2022 turned toxic towards the end of the season, as Fernando Alonso became more and more frustrated at both Alpine and Esteban Ocon.
The Spaniard was forced to retire from six races over the course of last season as Alpine struggled massively with reliability issues, while Ocon experienced better fortunes.
This led Alonso to make claims that his teammate was being treated more favourably by the team, a claim which was swiftly rejected by both Alpine and Ocon.
The pair then came together in Brazil, colliding in the sprint race and seeing both of their starting positions for the main race on Sunday plummet, leading Alonso to count down the days until he could join Aston Martin.
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Despite having their problems with each other during their time together in the junior categories, Ocon and his new teammate Pierre Gasly have both expressed their confidence in sharing a harmonious relationship at Alpine.
Former F1 driver Romain Grosjean has however admitted that he fears for Alpine’s driver lineup next year, suggesting that having an all-French team could lead to a “battle of egos.”
“It can go bad, I’m not going to lie to you,” said the former Haas driver.
“If each of the drivers want to be the French driver doing the job for the French team, it can go south. But, it can go really well too.
“They are two guys who were not best friends when they were young, but they have matured a lot. They both know what it’s like to win a race.”
Alpine initially wanted to appoint Oscar Piastri as their replacement for Fernando Alonso, but the Australian controversially decided to sign for McLaren to replace the struggling Daniel Ricciardo.
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It seemed an impossible task to pry Gasly away from AlphaTauri at first, as the Frenchman was so highly rated by those high up in the Red Bull hierarchy.
The team eventually decided that it would be unfair to stand in the way of their driver’s dream move to race for a potentially podium contending team and negotiated a reasonable fee for the 26-year-old’s release.
AlphaTauri’s struggles under the new regulations in 2022 led Gasly to push for a move higher up the grid, as Red Bull’s sister team often struggled to escape Q1 last year despite looking a formidable midfield team the year prior.