The Formula 1 season was not one of the best for the Alpine team who barely held their position and saw many retirements come their way, but managing to hold a P6 in the constructors championship, it seems that Esteban Ocon has gotten serious about bringing his team back to the top.
Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon had a great battle when it came to this season and bringing out the best to stick with the team. However, with their 2024 seasons secure, it seems that the driver is now adamant about winning back as much as he can and in the process waking up his potential.
Esteban Ocon hopes to leave Pierre Gasly in the dust
Esteban Ocon has been one of the most praised and joked about as of the 2023 season. While he has done a phenomenal job this season and has also won a podium for Alpine, it was the last time he would reach greatness as he witnessed retirements left and right. The season also brought in a lot of jokes on Esteban when it came to penalties and fans having an inside joke about him.
However, he tried his absolute best to get the team whatever he could to stay ahead of Williams, has, Alfa Romeo, and AlphaTauri. In the end, Alpine finally secured the 6th position in the constructor’s championship while also being far ahead of the Williams team to catch up on them, being the only team to secure a position apart from Red Bull.
Nonetheless, the French driver had it much worse as he saw his teammate perform better even under pressure and have a good position in the Drivers Championship while he threaded behind him with 58 points. But as the driver progresses to bring much to the table, he has plans not to rest, but to practice much more next season.
🚨 | Esteban Ocon promises “war mode” in 2024.
“I’m going to be doing it the way I was in 2022.
“Which is [having] no life, flat out, only racing.”https://t.co/AwMTu8KG9c
— formularacers (@formularacers_) December 6, 2023
He has come forth to let everyone know that he will be waging war the next season and fighting Pierre Gasly to the very end to get a better position. He hopes to bring back the aggressiveness that he used to have when he was a teammate to Fernando Alonso.
After saying, “I’m going to be doing it the way I was in 2022, which is [having] no life, flat out, only racing. Back to war mode.” he has plans to get back to practicing his form from 2nd Jan itself before he can join the tracks in March.
The time Esteban Ocon made Pierre Gasly angry
This season was hectic for both the drivers as they struggled not only with the car but also to be better teammates. While Ocon got the team a single podium, Pierre gasly stayed consistent amidst his teammate’s retirements.
GAS:”Are you serious!? Are you being serious? I started in front. I was in front the whole race and you let him under cut me.”
Eng:”Please Pierre”
GAS:”I’m doing it”
After a few more corners Gasly eventually gives the place to Ocon. #JapaneseGP #F1— F1 Madness 🏁 (@F1_Madness) September 24, 2023
However, it was during one particular race that he had to pay for being consistent and let Ocon go ahead right before he was about the finish his race. This angered the French driver as he was seen making hand signals in the onboard camera and making angry statements with strings of cuss words.
Nonetheless, the two seemed to have settled their differences after the race when Gasly offered a rather friendly hand to his teammate and confirmed that he understood the team’s orders to do so.