Pierre Gasly has opened up on his relationship with Scuderia AlphaTauri team-mate Yuki Tsunoda.
The Japanese driver joined Gasly at the Italy-based team in 2021 after impressing while in Formula 2 the prior year.
The Frenchman consistently outperformed his younger team-mate last year, but they have been much more evenly matched so far this campaign.
Opening up on their relationship, Gasly described Tsunoda as a “pain in the ass” and said that he often tries to “break” into his room.
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“He is a pain in the ass, oh my god,” the 26-year-old joked in a recent interview with Tauri Talk.
“Yeah, it’s not easy to deal with him every single day, especially during the weekend!
“Luckily, we’ve got two different rooms. He keeps trying to break in[to] my room every single time but now it’s okay.”
Tsunoda moved to Italy last year to be closer to the team’s base amid a dip in form, and Gasly revealed that a dinner party with his team-mate didn’t quite go to plan.
“I think he might get an invite for another dinner now at some point in Milan,” he said.
“Last time we organised it was a pretty big disaster because he showed up an hour late.
“Luckily we were with other people but he likes to misbehave, but he had his own reasons. So it’s all fine, he’ll get another chance,” he added.
While Gasly already has a contract for 2023, Tsunoda’s future beyond this season is currently unclear.
Team principal Franz Tost has emphasised that Tsunoda staying with Scuderia AlphaTauri in 2023 is entirely contingent on how he performs over the course of the remainder of this season.
“If he continues like he did during the season, apart from crashing, I think that he has a good chance to stay with us,” Tost said when asked about the likelihood of the Japanese driver being retained for next year.
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Continuing, the Austrian said: “It depends on him. If he shows a good performance, he will stay. If he doesn’t show a good performance, he is out. Totally easy.”
Gasly is 13th in the Drivers’ Standings, having scored 16 points from the opening 11 rounds of 2022.
Tsunoda has scored 11 points and is 16th in the championship, while Scuderia AlphaTauri are eighth in the Constructors’ Standings.