Pierre Gasly ‘frustrated’ with Alpine’s decision to let Esteban Ocon overtake him at the last lap in

The phenomenon of team orders has a nasty ring attached to it and often results in frustrated pilots. Giving up track position to support team strategy can be fulfilling in its essence, but individually, it shall gut a pilot. We saw how selflessly Russel gave up the position to Hamilton in order to choke Sainz out of the top 5, but the Frenchman in the Alpine livery was not satisfied.

Alpine’s power unit, Renault has always managed the team making decisions which benefited the entire team, however, recently Pierre Gasly was said to be frustrated over Alpine’s rapid decision on the track of the Japanese Grand Prix.

Pierre Gasly explains his frustration over Alpine’s decision at Japanese GP

Gasly had been running in ninth towards the end of the race – after earlier being given the green light to pass his teammate as he put his fresher hard tyres to good use by chasing down the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso for eighth position.

However, when it became clear he was unable to do it, he was asked by Alpine to let Ocon through on the final lap. Gasly obliged and allowed his teammate to pass at the final corner on the final lap but his onboard camera showed him to be visibly frustrated as he waved his hands in the cockpit.

As he spoke to the media, the French driver had frowns on his face, clearly showing his frustration, Gasly said: “Just a bit frustrated, because we need to swap positions in the last lap. I don’t fully understand it, I don’t really see the need, but we will talk internally.”

Alpine’s performance at Japanese GP

The Japanese Grand witnessed an unexpected twist for Alpine’s Pierre Gasly. The driver was ahead of his teammate, Esteban Ocon. The driver was leading ahead of Ocon especially because he faced a puncture in the opening lap incident. However, a sudden decision by the team saw Ocon pit earlier, allowing him to get ahead of Gasly.

While Gasly, being on fresh tyres was in the position to chase down cars with an increasing speed, he was told to let Ocon pass in the radio. Gasly was in disbelief as such decisions were not discussed before, which was said to be the “rule” of Alpine.

After being told of Gasly’s frustrations, Ocon said: “Well I’ve been with this team [for] four years and the rule has always been the same, that if you swap the position – initially which I did to Pierre, I gave him the position – if you don’t get the car in front, then you always switch back before the end.”

“It was the same with Daniel [Ricciardo], it was the same with Fernando. We were doing that if it’s me if it’s him. If it’s the other way around I would do the same. I always prefer to fight on track, more a bit of an old-school way.”

Do you think Alpine’s decision served justice to the French driver? Do let us know in the comment section below!