Cagey Gasly still seems irked despite talks over Alpine team orders row
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The Frenchman was left angry after being told to let teammate Esteban Ocon through to claim ninth place on the final lap of the Suzuka race. Alpine had already swapped their drivers once to see if Gasly could hunt down and catch Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, which he failed to do. The French outfit have since admitted they did not do a good enough job in communicating the plan clearly to Gasly during the race. But Gasly was in no mood to give anything away when he was quizzed about the team order ahead of this weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix.
“Everything has been discussed. I’ll leave it there,” Gasly abruptly replied when asked if he is still unhappy about the call. When pressed about the rules of engagement at Alpine, Gasly responded: “As I said, everything has been discussed and I have no further comment.” Ocon insisted Alpine have made it clear to him and Gasly what they expect if a similar situation was to arise in the future. “We have discussed it internally, which is the most important, and we know where we are going now,” a more talkative Ocon said. Related F1 sprint race: What are the rules? What is the new 2023 format? Hamilton hints at “top secret” findings after Mercedes factory visit“It was similar thing a couple of years ago with Daniel and Fernando. We’ve made those switches from one side or another.“The important thing for the team is to maximise the result we can get. We tried to do that in the race. Unfortunately we didn’t manage to get one more position so we switched back. “Now, we know where we’re going with the team and that’s the most important.”
Asked if he could understand Gasly’s frustration, Ocon said: “I’m always on the side of, I prefer to race.“It doesn’t matter what there is to gain in front. There shouldn’t be artificial racing in any way. “I’m more of an old-school guy, I prefer to race, it doesn’t matter the circumstances is, even if there’s a podium to get in front. “But I also understand the side of the team, which is to try and get as many points as we can. You need to understand both.”
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