Alpine drivers clear the air after disastrous race ending clash between the two in the 2023 F1 Australian GP

The Australian GP was a forgettable race for Alpine as they returned home scoring zero points. The team suffered a major blow on the second restart when teammates Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly collided, taking both out.

Gasly was on course for a top-five finish and Ocon was in the top 10 before chaos unfolded on the restart. Exiting turn two, Gasly moved across the track unaware that his teammate was behind him. He then squeezed Ocon into the wall, wrecking both their cars.

Ocon admitted that he had no hard feelings, as Gasly had apologized to him post-race. The Alpine driver said in a post-race interview:

"Obviously the chaotic restart, it could have been anyone that I collided with to be honest. Because there were a lot of cars going off and obviously it ended up being Pierre not leaving me much space, but no hard feelings, he came and apologised and as I said, it could have been anyone."

Pierre Gasly, meanwhile, was frustrated about missing out on a top-five finish in his third start for Alpine. The French driver was left dejected after the race and couldn't hide his disappointment.

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Alpine drivers surprised by strong race pace

Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly were surprised by the strong pace on Sunday (April 2). While Gasly drove a brilliant race, Ocon's race was affected by a strategic decision early in the race.

Charles Leclerc's first lap excursion into the gravel brought out the safety car, which prompted Alpine to pit Esteban Ocon. However, the decision turned out to be a nightmare as Alex Albon's crash brought out a red flag a few laps later.

In a post-race interview, Ocon spoke about the weekend:

"Tricky weekend, I think nothing really clicked on our direction the whole weekend, the things that were out of our control really. And it’s extremely frustrating because we are in a good place, I think we’re similar to the Aston [Martins] and the Ferrari in front, so we could have been much further up."

Pierre Gasly proved that the car was competitive as he kept pace with Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso for many laps.

Speaking to Sky F1, he said:

"For now I’m just extremely disappointed with the outcome of the race, because I gave everything out there. I was racing with the Ferrari, Alonso in my cycle the majority of the race with three laps to go and we didn’t expect to be in such a position. So running in P5 on pace was definitely a nice surprise out there. I just can’t believe what’s happened in the end."

It was a miserable end to Gasly's race as he took out his teammate. Alpine now stands sixth in the constructor standings behind McLaren.