When a race is soporific, at least at the beginning, you can always count on Alpine to put on a show and get the crowd out of their Sunday snooze. There is always something going on in the blue team when their two drivers find themselves neck and neck in the pack. Pierre Gasly (10th) and Esteban Ocon (12th) did not end up in the scenery despite their many exchanges of arms on the Red Bull Ring and that is already not bad considering yesterday and the outcome of the Max Verstappen-Lando Norris fight.
All the same, there was no sense of serenity in the French clan when Ocon, always ready to defend at the limit, pushed his teammate away for the first time before closing the door on him in a more authoritarian manner a few seconds later. “What was that? He just kicked me out. Why did he kick me out?”complained Gasly on the radio while Fernando Alonso, a privileged spectator just behind the duo, cracked a « Wow » which said it all.
After having passed him, the one who has just extended with Alpine let go of a « ciao » before heading off to take his point. After the skirmish, both pilots acted as if nothing had happened. “It’s F1 and we fight. The team let us do it”explained Gasly. “It’s a battle like any other. Nothing happened.”, replied his compatriot. Manly but correct overall.
