Esteban Ocon posts message after Pierre Gasly to Alpine is confirmed

News broke on Saturday morning that Pierre Gasly would indeed be joining Alpine for 2023, with him going to be alongside compatriot Esteban Ocon.

The former Red Bull driver did have a contract with AlphaTauri for 2023, having signed it earlier this season, but after Fernando Alonso’s reveal that he’d be leaving Alpine for Aston Martin, Gasly was quickly one of the names in the frame for the drive.

Of course, Alpine did plan on bringing Oscar Piastri into the fold but we all know how that one went, and Gasly seemed as though he was Alpine’s number one choice for a driver outside of their academy.

They’ve got their man, then, with an all-French line-up being formed for a team that obviously has a great deal of French influence, and that should make for a really interesting proposition in 2023.

Another intriguing dynamic, meanwhile, is the relationship between Ocon and Gasly.

Two drivers of a similar age that have known each other since being young kids, the two have reportedly had their ups and downs with one another as they have gone along on their respective routes to F1.

Indeed, much was made of that once it was clear Gasly was very much an option as Ocon’s next partner at Alpine, though both have sought to try and play things down when asked about any potential issues earlier on this year.

Ocon has also taken to Twitter to put out this rather friendly message to welcome Pierre to the team:

We were just two little kids from Normandy with an impossible dream. Welcome to the Alpine family Pierrot, let’s make our team and our country proud