F1 News
Ocon disagrees with Gasly over team orders: 'You have to fight on the track'
- Sam Godber
While calm appears to have returned slightly within the Alpine board, driver Pierre Gasly was unapologetic about his team's team orders during the race in Japan. The Frenchman was faster on fresher tyres than teammate Esteban Ocon, but still had to give back his spot. It was a 'duel' for ninth place in the Japanese Grand Prix.
In the final corner of the race, Gasly had to give his place back to Ocon, while earlier in the race he was still given the green light by his team to overtake Ocon. In the end, Ocon thus finished ninth and Gasly tenth. The former does not quite understand why Gasly reacted so strongly on the board radio.
Ocon disagrees with Gasly
"I’ve been with this team since four years and the rule has always been the same, " Ocon told RaceFans.net. " If you swap the position initially, which I did to Pierre I gave him the position, if you don’t get the car in front then you always switch back before the end," the Frenchman revealed.
"You have to fight for your position on the track. You can be as fast as you want, but if you don't make that move, you never know who will be in front of you. Before that, I was in front. We will of course discuss as a team what we could have done better," Ocon told reporters after the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.