"I’m sure the next time around Esteban will play it fair" - Pierre Gasly's jibe at his teammate Esteban Ocon after the 2023 F1 Japanese GP

Alpine driver Pierre Gasly mentioned that he hoped that his teammate Esteban Ocon would repay the favor of letting him through as he did at the end of the 2023 Japanese GP.

The Frenchman was not one bit happy after he was told by the team to let his teammate Ocon through for P9 on the last lap of the race. Gasly expressed his displeasure with the decision by flipping the bird when his teammate went past him.

Speaking with the media after the race, Pierre Gasly explained his reaction and said:

“It was clear that with the strategy they had planned, at some point, Esteban would undercut me. But my race was faster, I would have overtaken him anyway on the race track because I had fresher tires."

“This was part of the strategy that was done before the race. Until then it was similar, it was just on the last lap. But anyway - it’s something we’ll talk about together, I’m sure the next time around Esteban will play it fair.”

Pierre Gasly analyzes his P10 at the Japanese GP

The Alpine driver claimed that he was satisfied with the result and happy that the team got a double points finish at the end of the race with Ocon finishing P9. As per F1.com, Pierre Gasly said:

“Firstly, we’ve made it back-to-back points from the doubleheader after going from twelfth on the grid into the points. From my side, I felt it was a very positive race with strong stints on both the medium and hard tires to put ourselves into points-scoring contention."

Pierre Gasly reiterated the fact that he was matching Fernando Alonso, who was running in P8 before he was instructed to let his teammate by. He added:

"We seemed competitive and closely matched with Fernando [Alonso] ahead, and closing him down might have been possible. As a team, we have some things to review to see what we can do better next time. In the end, it’s a double-points finish for the team and that’s the most important thing.”

It will be interesting to see how the team handles the situation between Pierre Gasly and Estaban Ocon behind closed doors. Gasly angrily flipping the bird has the potential to cause some friction between the duo.

Hopefully, the explanation provided to both drivers will prevent any fallout between them for the remainder of the season.