‘Gossip girl’ F1 Twitter goes bonkers after Ralf Schumacher apparently claims Pierre Gasly ‘stole’ Esteban Ocon’s girlfriend


‘Gossip girl’ F1 Twitter goes bonkers after Ralf Schumacher apparently claims Pierre Gasly ‘stole’ Esteban Ocon’s girlfriend

Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly during a press conference at the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix (Images through IMAGO / HochZwei)

With reports saying Nyck de Vries has signed with AlphaTauri, it seems Pierre Gasly’s gate to Alpine is now open. Red Bull would not have signed the Dutchman otherwise. Gasly will finally leave the Red Bull family, despite having signed an extension till the end of 2023 a few months ago.

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His reluctance in staying at Red Bull was understandable, as Sergio Perez had a deal till 2024. It’s possible he did not want to stay at AlphaTauri, currently a lower midfield team, for that long. Even after 2024, there was no guarantee that he was going to get the seat, so it seems the Alpine move might serve him well.

On paper, it’s an exciting prospect as the only French team on the grid will now have an all-French lineup. While losing Fernando Alonso and Oscar Piastri will sting, perhaps Gasly can soften the blow. But, there is a ‘small’ elephant in the room. Gasly and Esteban Ocon are not known to like each other that much. Why? Ralf Schumacher thinks that he knows the reason.

Also Read: Nyck de Vries finally signs with AlphaTauri as Pierre Gasly’s Alpine move seems imminent – Reports

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Why did Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon stop being friends?

Esteban Ocon (L) Pierre Gasly (R)
Esteban Ocon (L) Pierre Gasly (R)

Apparently, former Williams driver Ralf Schumacher has claimed that the reason that Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon do not get along with each other is that the former ‘stole’ Ocon’s girlfriend when they were young and still got along with each other. While there are certainly doubts over the validity of the claim, people are losing their minds regardless.

But fans are really not sure where the information comes from. And they are not sure how Ralf Schumacher would know about it either, as it’s not like he is incredibly connected to the pair of them. But they did propose some sources.

The reason, according to Pierre Gasly, is quite a bit different. Back in 2018, Gasly explained why they were no longer friends, as per RaceFans. The Frenchman said it’s because he ‘started beating’ Ocon: “I started to beat him and he didn’t like it so we’re not friends any more.”

He added: “We’ve spent a lot of time together but it got to a point where he got a bit too upset and it wasn’t so nice any more. So we kind of stopped [socialising]. Then after we always [had] quite a lot of rivalry. I think we respect each other as drivers. If we don’t talk about racing it’s fine. We can spend time together, we respect each other, it doesn’t go further than that.” but recently, Ocon claimed there are no problems if they are driving together, as per f1i.com.

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The Alpine driver said that there are ‘no problems’ in his relationship with Gasly and that the two have a good relationship with ‘respect between each other’. If he does think this way, there likely should not be a lot of issues that arise from Gasly’s switch from AlphaTauri.

Also Read: “Our strategy does not focus on nationality”: Laurent Rossi denies that Pierre Gasly might go to Alpine because he is French

Also Read: “He can be quite difficult,” Paul Di Resta questions the friction between Esteban Ocon and his teammates of the past and present