Ocon believes in collaboration Gasly: 'Making history together'

They are not the best of friends, to put it mildly. Yet Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon - both French - will be driving for Alpine next season. Is there going to bef a lot of problems within the team?

Once upon a time, Gasly and Ocon were friends. They grew up close to each other, and met at the track at a young age. But over time, they became rivals, barely speaking to eacht other. At Alpine, they now have to work together. Team boss Otmar Szafnauer is expecting this to go well, he revealed on Saturday. Gasly also said he will be professional.

Ocon himself has similuar words. "I think we can make history together. We have respect for each other and I think that is the most important thing," Ocon said according to AutoBild about Gasly's appointment. Nice words, but Ocon is not known as an easy teammate. With Sergio Perez at Racing Point, it was regularly war and with Pascal Wehrlein (together at Manor) there was also mutual tension. Only with his current teammate Fernando Alonso does Ocon seem to get on well.

For France, the Gasly-Ocon pairing is nice, especially in a French team. It is the first time there has been a French driver duo in Formula 1 since 1994. Back then there were even three, at Ligier, Larrousse and Pacific.