Pierre Gasly moved to ease fears that Alpine might have another driver feud on its hands in 2023.
This year has already provided enough intra-team arguments for team boss Otmar Szafnauer to deal with. Things between Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso came to a head in Brazil last month, as they clashed during the Sprint race before the Spaniard declared he could not wait to leave for Aston Martin at the end of the season.
Replacing Alonso is Gasly, who has left the Red Bull stable for a fresh start with Alpine. While an all-French driver lineup is appealing to the Renault-backed team, there have been some concerns pointed out over the relationship between the two racers.
Gasly and Ocon were childhood friends, growing up and karting together in Normandy. But as they both gave their all to achieve their motorsport dreams, their relationship soured and there were many years in which they did not see eye to eye.
But the former AlphaTauri racer insists all that is water under the bridge. "[Esteban] is the guy I know in the paddock for the longest – we met at six years old, 20 years ago and have a long past history," Gasly told RacingNews365.
"I will say he's done quite a lot since we both made it to F1, achieved one of our dreams, got our opportunities here in the paddock, and we both want to win and fight for championships." Their respective F1 records make for similar reading – Ocon has taken part in three more races than his compatriot, and they both have one race win each to their name.
Now both aged 26, Gasly feels they are old and wise enough to not let past disagreements get in the way of their careers. He added: "It's no secret to anyone that we have had our ups and downs, but I think today we're much more grown up than we were.
"We have responsibilities driving for a manufacturer and we both know that it's in our benefits to work well together, working towards having a faster car.
"That's why I'm not concerned at all. I think it's also an opportunity to let bygones be bygones and be in a healthy place. So far it's been great, we've already had a couple of chats together."
