The inaugural Las Vegas GP turned out to be an exciting showdown with battles up and down the grid. One of the many battles that added to the glitz of the occasion was that of teammates Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly fighting it out for P5 on lap 34 of 50 despite receiving team orders to hold position.
Following the race, as per a report by F1Maximaal, Ocon explained the reason why he did not listen to his team asking him to hold position and instead went for a move on Gasly. According to the former Force India driver, he did not ignore the team orders intentionally.
LAP 33/50
Look away, Alpine fans 🫣
Gasly and Ocon get veeery close to each other as Ocon makes a move to take P5 #LasVegasGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/qscf9ktto7
— Formula 1 (@F1) November 19, 2023
He said, “I was told to hold positions, but all I heard was: position. In fact, I started playing catch-up the moment I was told. If the team had asked me to give the position back, I would of course have done so immediately.”
The whole incident unfolded on lap 4 when Ocon lined up a move on Gasly on the main straight. However, he braked too late and went too deep into turn 1, allowing Gasly to take back the position. However, he immediately fought back into turn 5 and regained the position.
The Esteban Ocon – Pierre Gasly rivalry
Pierre Gasly also spoke about the ordeal and admitted that Ocon was indeed faster than him on a new set of tires. He explained that he could not afford to fight for long because he was already managing the tires by then.
He said, “Back then it was all about survival. It was impossible with all the graining.” In the end, Gasly finished P12 and failed to score any points while Ocon finished a respectable P4, bringing home 12 points for the French team.
If I was the owner of that sphere I’d show the iconic Gasly-Ocon Instagram incident every time they pass by #LasVegasGP pic.twitter.com/K2gJ9d5QbT
— Alejandro (@motorsport_geek) November 19, 2023
What made this incident even more interesting is the fact that despite being teammates, Ocon and Gasly aren’t necessarily the greatest of friends. They shared a beautiful friendship during their childhood and grew up racing with each other.
However, things got bitter between the two as they slowly started to step up in the racing ladder. By the time the duo managed to reach F1 and realized their dreams, the friendship had almost turned into enmity. However, as of now, they are working through that for the betterment of the team.
