Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon are childhood friends and their story of making it to the top of the pinnacle of motorsport is anything but ordinary. The boys from Normandy will be teammates next season at the Enstone-based Alpine Racing. Esteban Ocon believes Gasly joining him at Alpine is an “awesome story”, despite their differences in recent years.

Ocon and Gasly haven’t often seen each other eye to eye in recent years. However, after signing for Alpine, Ocon was one of the first people to congratulate Gasly. The duo shared a picture on social media announcing Pierre’s move. Gasly joined the French constructors from AlphaTauri.

When asked if they both will be able to work together, Ocon told Autosport, “Yeah, we will do. And to be honest, I think it’s an awesome story to tell. I mean, we started go-karting together – that’s pretty crazy. I have a lot of fantastic memories obviously with Pierre when we were kids.”

He further added, “But I think it would be great to collaborate together. It’s not only myself now from Normandy, we are all three from Normandy, me, Pierre and the brand. So if we can bring that team to the top and make Normandy win, that would be something special.”

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With Alpine having a strong season so far, Ocon and Gasly will be hoping to lead the charge for the French team next season. Furthermore, they will also be hoping to keep their personal differences aside.

Former F1 driver believes Esteban Ocon is an “underrated” driver

It was an amazing battle between Ocon and Lewis Hamilton in Suzuka. The Frenchman earned plaudits from many fans around the world for his brave defense. Former F1 driver, Christian Klien, was one of them who praised the Alpine driver. The former Red Bull driver also believes Ocon’s positioning while defending against Lewis was “perfect”.

Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast, Christian Klien said, “Perfect. It was just perfect. Lewis Hamilton was for sure quicker at that point of the race and obviously missing some of the top speeds, so therefore his positioning of the car, reading what Lewis Hamilton was going to do, was just perfect and he didn’t crack under pressure.”

He further commented, “And I think anyway Esteban is a little bit of an underrated driver. He has a lot of good races that are a little bit under the radar sometimes.”

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Alpine Racing has taken some big strides this season. In what has been a strong season so far, they have announced Pierre Gasly will replace the outgoing Fernando Alonso next year. Ocon is confident that the pair can make things work together. Do you agree with the Frenchman’s words?