Gasly: With Ocon it’s always the same thing

During their duel at the Mexican Grand Prix, Gasly and Ocon tangled with the soon to be Red Bull driver forced off track. FIA appointed race stewards looked at the incident and deemed it fair and square.

But Gasly was fuming after the race, "With Ocon it’s always the same thing. I’ve known him for a long time, there are a lot of chances that things happen. I think he wasn’t very happy that I had started last and managed to overtake him, so he pushed me wide and I had to go off track."

"I could have forced my way in Turn 5 and we would have had contact, but it wasn’t worth it, as I could have another go after that. For me it wasn’t fair, because you leave the space for one car, but if they say you can race aggressively, I don’t mind."

Gasly was also unhappy with the lack of action from the stewards, "I think compare it with many other situations, like with me in Silverstone, so it seems to be quite a grey area, as normally you should leave space for one car and clearly there wasn’t space for one car there."

"In the end, I don’t care, because I finished ahead of him [Ocon] and I scored one point, and he didn’t score points," added Gasly.

Earlier in the year, he said of his relationship with Ocon, "I started to beat him and he didn’t like it so we’re not friends any more."

“We’ve done so many things together with Esteban. When we were like nine, 10 years old we used to go testing in karting when it was snowing, do five laps then come in because it was so cold. Go out on the track together, trying to get warm and then go back on track for three or four more laps.

“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."

After an impressive rookie season, Gasly has been rewarded with a promotion to the Red Bull senior team, while Ocon who is highly rated by Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff, has s slim chance of remaining in Formula 1 with Williams. Beyond that he is set to sit out a season until a cockpit becomes available for him.

Whatever the case, there is no love lost between the 22-year-olds and it is clear when (and if) they are in strong cars, this will be a rivalry that is likely to produce great dollops of entertainment amid the tears.