Pierre Gasly was absolutely furious last Sunday following the conclusion of the Japanese Grand Prix, where he was seen throwing his hands out of the cockpit in anger after crossing the finish line.
His angry behaviour came after Alpine instructed him to let Esteban Ocon overtake him on the final lap, something the ex-AlphaTauri driver disagreed with.
Gasly had started the race ahead of Ocon but was overtaken by his fellow Frenchman after being undercut by his team-mate, something which also appeared to annoy the Dutch Grand Prix podium finisher.
However, Alpine had made Ocon and Gasly invert positions after they’d both pitted, to see if Gasly could catch Fernando Alonso up ahead.
Want to work in Formula 1? Browse the latest F1 job vacancies
As he failed to catch and overtake the two-time World Champion, the Enstone-based team ordered Gasly to give Ocon back P9.
When initially asked to give Ocon the position, Gasly’s response at first over the radio was: What the f***? You’re kidding me.”
He did follow team orders in the end but clearly wasn’t happy with the team’s call.
After the race, Gasly admitted that he was “very frustrated” with the call on the final lap of the race and insisted that it’ll be discussed “internally”.
“I’m just very frustrated to need to swap position in the last lap. I don’t fully understand it,” Gasly said after the race, as reported by PlanetF1.com. “I don’t really see the need, but we’ll talk internally.”
With 2023 being Ocon’s fourth season with the French team he knows better than Gasly how they work, with him revealing that it’s always been the case that if you’re allowed past but make no progress, then you give the position back to your team-mate.
Ocon insisted that at Alpine “that’s how we’ve always done it”, something it appears Gasly will need to get used to.
READ: Mick Schumacher responds to signing Alpine contract
“I have been with this team for four years now and this rule has always been the same,” Ocon told Motorsport.com.
“If a driver changes position… and in this case, I gave the position to Pierre and he had to overtake Fernando to keep that position, otherwise you just give that position back to your team-mate.
“That’s how we’ve always done it. If I were on the other side [of the story], of course, I would do the same.”