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Gasly wants to clear the air before Alpine duo line up together
Pierre Gasly believes Alpine should hold talks with its two drivers ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix as he will start alongside teammate Esteban Ocon in Barcelona.
Ocon was penalized for making contact with Gasly on the opening lap of the race in Monaco two rounds ago, with Alpine and Gasly stating the attempted overtake went against team instructions. The pair will start from seventh and eighth in Spain as Ocon gains a spot due to Sergio Perez’s grid penalty, and Gasly wants talks to take place before the race.
“I think we should [discuss it], based on the recent events,” Gasly said. “As a team, it would be normal, but as a professional I know what I've got to do and always kept it very clean -- and I always keep it very clean.”
However, Ocon believes talks are not needed and says it’s not unusual for the Alpine drivers to be close to each other on the grid.
“How many times have we started together?” Ocon said. “It has happened once every 30 times. I don’t expect anything tomorrow; it should be fine.”
Away from the focus on the driver dynamic, the result marks a surprisingly competitive qualifying session for Alpine with both drivers in the top eight, and Gasly says the team needs to understand why it has been so strong in Spain.
“I think no one really saw that coming,” Gasly said. “I always told them it's nicer when we have to explain why you overperform rather than underperform, but it's as important for us to find these answers because coming here we definitely didn't expect to have a Q3 car. Since yesterday, there was some performance and even today it was a very clean session.
“Looking at the gaps, we're only a tenth and a half from Lewis [Hamilton], and even Carlos [Sainz] -- Ferrari managed to win a race not a long time ago -- so I must say it's very strange, but we take it. It was a good quali and I think a very big, good boost of motivation for the team.”
Chris Medland
While studying Sports Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, Chris managed to talk his way into working at the British Grand Prix in 2008 and was retained for three years before joining ESPN F1 as Assistant Editor. After three further years at ESPN, a spell as F1 Editor at Crash Media Group was followed by the major task of launching F1i.com’s English-language website and running it as Editor. Present at every race since the start of 2014, he has continued building his freelance portfolio, working with international titles. As well as writing for RACER, his broadcast work includes television appearances on F1 TV and as a presenter and reporter on North America's live radio coverage on SiriusXM.
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