'Third choice Gasly broke in and took Ocon's house in 2023'

Of all 10 driver line-ups in 2023, perhaps the most interestingdynamic was that at Alpine of incumbent Esteban Ocon and newcomerPierre Gasly. Blindsided when Fernando Alonso, insulted at theteam's attempts to ease him out and into a WEC seat, jumped shipfor Aston Martin, with reserve driver Oscar Piastri next in linefor a race seat. Except, Piastri's junior contract had been bungled- as RacingNews365 exclusively revealed - and led into McLaren'sclutches. That meant Gasly was effectively third choice for 2023,going up against a driver well embedded within the team for hisfourth season - but Gasly emerged with more credit in an overalldisappointing season, with the two drivers famously having a frostyrelationship after growing up in Normandy together. Once Gasly hadadjusted to the expected troubles of adjusting to a new team andcar, he began to assert his dominance over Ocon, who it must besaid had some terrible reliability and luck. Gasly finished ahead62-58 in the championship, and edged qualifying 14-9 while Oconactually got the better on Sunday, with 10-9 in races bothfinished. Standout results for Gasly included third in the BelgiumSprint and in the chaos of the Dutch Grand Prix, and also anoutstanding sixth in the United States, as he ended the season asAlpine's figurehead. There were flashpoints along the way, such asa needless team order snafu in Japan, perhaps reflective of themess Alpine finds itself in, off-track. Any team who loses its CEO,Team Principal, Sporting Director and Chief Technical Officerduring a season is in trouble, with fourth in a strong 2022 turninginto a 'no man's land' sixth this time around. But Gasly himselfrecognises the team needs to focus on making change to theperformance of its car. Gasly reflects on Alpine switch "I must sayit's tough to say you're pleased with the season you've had whenyou haven't scored that many points," Gasly told media includingRacingNews365. "It's been, objectively, slightly disappointing interms of the overall performance we've shown, but personally, I'mdefinitely happy with the step I've made. "I came into a new team,there was a lot to learn, a lot to get used to. "I felt I managedto step in and just deliver, trying to get everything out of thecar, weekend after weekend. I obviously wish we would be fightingfor better positions. "But all in all, I feel like we are workingvery well with the team. We just need a better package and morespeed for next year. "The last few races I've been really happywith the way we've been working with the guys, with the whole team,maximising the package we have because it's obviously been a prettytough season for us."