2023 Alpine F1 Team

[Farnborough]

Ocon at fault for Albert Park team collision or racing incident? Thoughts?

Gasly may have made a "dog's dinner" of it, but understandable given the close proximity of all the cars, that's not an excuse for him, but reality of the situation.

Ocon had full view of the situation and completely of his team mate's car, but still decided to "drive the accident home" as he usually does. This to the detriment of the whole team and ultimately his career. I dont feel he's going anywhere with that attitude, there's time and place to be very ambitious/concise in taking risk on passing another car, this wasn't that time or place. He never really learns.
Ocon shows truculent resistance to recognising his part in these scenario, he probably won't realise until it's too late and he's looking back on his F1 career.

[PinkFloydPulse]

Gasly is 1 point away of a race ban... Maybe Ocon is aware of that and kind of tried to use this to get his team-mate a race ban

[diffuser]

Ocon at fault for Albert Park team collision or racing incident? Thoughts?

Gasly may have made a "dog's dinner" of it, but understandable given the close proximity of all the cars, that's not an excuse for him, but reality of the situation.

Ocon had full view of the situation and completely of his team mate's car, but still decided to "drive the accident home" as he usually does. This to the detriment of the whole team and ultimately his career. I dont feel he's going anywhere with that attitude, there's time and place to be very ambitious/concise in taking risk on passing another car, this wasn't that time or place. He never really learns.
Ocon shows truculent resistance to recognising his part in these scenario, he probably won't realise until it's too late and he's looking back on his F1 career.

Of course, he saw an opportunity to finish ahead of his team mate at all costs ! not a fan....

[Tooooom]

So done with Ocon, that guy is just problem after problem. At some point you got to play the the team game, he just doesn't want to and needs to be reminded about it all the time. And he's here until the end of 2024... aïe aïe aïe

[continuum16]

I don't think that Ocon is the main culprit, because from the onboard it is clear that when Gasly first rejoins the track Ocon slams on the brakes to avoid hitting him. Gasly then has a bit of a Stroll moment™ and forgets to check his mirrors for other cars after rejoining the track 20-40 kmh slower than everyone else. Was it wise for Ocon to go to the outside? Probably not, but it's not unreasonable to expect a car which is in trouble (Gasly here) to hold its line, either. Racing incident, although the initial error was 100% on Gasly for out-braking himself.

[AR3-GP]

I don't think that Ocon is the main culprit, because from the onboard it is clear that when Gasly first rejoins the track Ocon slams on the brakes to avoid hitting him. Gasly then has a bit of a Stroll moment™ and forgets to check his mirrors for other cars after rejoining the track 20-40 kmh slower than everyone else. Was it wise for Ocon to go to the outside? Probably not, but it's not unreasonable to expect a car which is in trouble (Gasly here) to hold its line, either. Racing incident, although the initial error was 100% on Gasly for out-braking himself.

+1

[Tooooom]

I don't think that Ocon is the main culprit, because from the onboard it is clear that when Gasly first rejoins the track Ocon slams on the brakes to avoid hitting him. Gasly then has a bit of a Stroll moment™ and forgets to check his mirrors for other cars after rejoining the track 20-40 kmh slower than everyone else. Was it wise for Ocon to go to the outside? Probably not, but it's not unreasonable to expect a car which is in trouble (Gasly here) to hold its line, either. Racing incident, although the initial error was 100% on Gasly for out-braking himself.

It's not that in that case he's not entirely to blame, it's just that it happens all the time. You said that it wasn't wise to go on the outside and even if they didn't collide, what was the next move? Squeeze Gasly at the next turn to gain one position? Gasly had a great race ruined by that restart, why not just admit that your teammate did better that day and keep the result intact instead of going for a super risky move with almost zero favorable outcome?

It has been the same thing again and again and again...

[AR3-GP]

I find myself revisiting my conclusion every 12 hours. I watched Ocon's replay again.

1) Gasly should not have drifted to the right, it was stupid
2) Ocon should have backed out when Gasly was clearly drifting to the right because that's his teammate and you must avoid collisions.


So now I come back to both drivers contributing equally. What others have said is correct. Ocon is too blinded by the opportunity to defeat his teammate. His desire to defeat his teammate goes supersedes the wellbeing of the team. Likewise, Gasly has exhibited signs of a limitation in spatial awareness. Neither of these things are good.

[Tooooom]

I find myself revisiting my conclusion every 12 hours. I watched Ocon's replay again.

1) Gasly should not have drifted to the right, it was stupid
2) Ocon should have backed out when Gasly was clearly drifting to the right because that's his teammate and you must avoid collisions.


So now I come back to both drivers contributing equally. What others have said is correct. Ocon is too blinded by the opportunity to defeat his teammate. His desire to defeat his teammate goes supersedes the wellbeing of the team. Likewise, Gasly has exhibited signs of a limitation in spatial awareness. Neither of these things are good.

Totally agree, that lack of awareness with Gasly was already visible before and has resulted in previous tangles. It's just that three races in with everybody predicting the drivers fragile relationship to explode, it couldn't have gone worse.

[NAPI10]

I am interested to know Mr. Otmar's viewpoint on this...just a racing incident or he is going to take it more seriously to avoid future clashes.

[Big Tea]

I am interested to know Mr. Otmar's viewpoint on this...just a racing incident or he is going to take it more seriously to avoid future clashes.

With 2 French drivers (pin-ups even) I wonder how much actual knuckle wrapping power he has in the team?
No doubt he can 'explain the error of their ways' to them, but is he able to wave a stick to get their attention?

[NAPI10]

I am interested to know Mr. Otmar's viewpoint on this...just a racing incident or he is going to take it more seriously to avoid future clashes.

With 2 French drivers (pin-ups even) I wonder how much actual knuckle wrapping power he has in the team?
No doubt he can 'explain the error of their ways' to them, but is he able to wave a stick to get their attention?

Unless ur driver is fighting for championship; team's success/goal has to supersede individual driver's achievements.
Mid-field is so tight this year; few more mishaps like this will push Alpine from 5th to 7th or 8th in construction standing .Otmar won’t be spare in that case. This fairy tale pairing of French drivers going to turn into nightmare pretty soon without discipline.

[organic]

Decent sized upgrade package for Baku and more new parts a week later at Miami according to Otmar

https://www.speedcafe.com/2023/04/05/al ... -gp-crash/

[ali623]

On a more positive note, the pace in Australia was good, Gasly was able to keep pace with the Ferrari/Aston/ Mercedes for the majority of the long hard tyre stint. If they can just gain a couple of tenths relative to those teams, they'll be in the mix.

[organic]

On a more positive note, the pace in Australia was good, Gasly was able to keep pace with the Ferrari/Aston/ Mercedes for the majority of the long hard tyre stint. If they can just gain a couple of tenths relative to those teams, they'll be in the mix.

I think Gasly was flattered by being able to hang in Sainz's DRS, but they were certainly within 2 tenths of amr/ferrari/merc in the race. Struggled a bit relative to the top teams in quali though.