Otmar Szafnauer hopes Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon can set aside their differences to form a formidable partnership at Alpine next season.
The two French drivers will link up next year with the former leaving the Red Bull setup after almost a decade. Having Gasly and Ocon race for a French-backed team seems like a dream partnership on paper, but there is another important factor to take into account.
They have known each other since they were young children, but later fell out while on the path towards Formula 1. That fractured friendship has raised questions as to whether or not they will be able to get along while sharing a garage.
Team chief Szafnauer hopes so, and says their relationship was taken into account as part of their "informed decision" as to who would be their best option to drive next season. "That means talking to the entire team, including Esteban beforehand, to make sure that if we did make a decision, it's a team sport and we have to be able to work together and optimise," he said.
"Esteban was very supportive, Pierre as well. They're professionals. And they have no issue working together. And hopefully the friendship will rekindle – they were friends at one point. But from a professional perspective, they're both very happy to work with each other.
"They've known each other for a very long time, and they've raced together. They're about equally experienced, they're both very fast, both ambitious, so that I think they'll work well together."
Ocon appears to have already taken a step towards building bridges. "We were just two little kids from Normandy with an impossible dream. Welcome to the Alpine family Pierrot, let’s make our team and our country proud," he wrote on social media after Gasly's impending switch was announced.
Along with that nice message, he posted two photos of them together. The first was from their karting days showing them laughing trackside, while the second was them posing together in Japan this week ahead of the announcement.
Speaking to the official F1 website, Gasly appeared confident it will not be an issue. "Our relationship has been going up and down since – it’s not new to anyone. I would say since we arrived in F1, it got better," he said. "We both achieved one of our dreams – but went through different stages. [There is no point] comparing Esteban when we were six, 12, 18 and now 26 – we grew up a lot."
