Pierre Gasly blasts Esteban Ocon for Lap 1 clash: ‘We can’t afford this sort of behaviour’

Pierre Gasly has blasted Alpine F1 teammate Esteban Ocon after their collision on the opening lap of the Monaco Grand Prix.

Ocon attempted an ambitious overtake into Portier on the first lap as they battled for position.

His aggressive lunge saw the pair collide on the exit of the corner, sending Ocon’s car airborne.

Ocon was unable to participate in the race once it got back underway after the red flag.

On the other hand, Gasly was able to continue, scoring Alpine’s second point of the year.

Reflecting on the clash after the race, Gasly told Sky Sports he was “disappointed” with Ocon after he failed to respect Alpine’s “clear instructions”.

“I am just disappointed. I am just disappointed with Esteban because it shouldn’t happen, and for the team,” he said.

“We’ve got 1200 people working for us and we cannot afford to have this sort of behaviour.

“We had clear instructions before the race and this hasn't been respected, and you should never take that much risk to take both cars out with your teammates.

“I'm sure it will be discussed and we just can't afford to have a similar situation in the future."

Ocon took full blame for the incident, owning up to it on social media.

The former Mercedes reserve driver wrote on his X account: “Today’s incident was my fault, the gap was too small in the end and I apologise to the team on this one. Hoping for a deserved points-finish for the team today.”

Ocon was handed a 10-second time penalty for his role in the incident - which has been converted into a five-place grid penalty for the next round.

The stewards noted: “It was clear to us that the collision was caused solely by the overly ambitious overtaking attempt, from too far back, by car 31 [Ocon] and was therefore wholly to blame for the incident.

“The baseline penalty for causing a collision in this season is a 10-second time penalty. This is what we imposed on car 31. However, given that car 31 did not finish the race, it will be converted to a drop of five grid positions for the next race in which the driver participates.”