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Former Red Bull driver Christian Klien reckons Pierre Gasly's move to Alpine next season has come at the right time and could save his career.
Klien was the guest at the F1 Nation Podcast where he was asked what he made of Gasly's decision to move on from AlphaTauri to Alpine next season. He said that Gasly made the right decision, as he was starting to lose motivation in AlphaTauri.
It was starting to become obvious that Gasly reached his ceiling at AlphaTauri, making him look for options elsewhere. Klein said:
"I think for Gasly it can just save his career. He, I think, got a little bit frustrated, a little bit unmotivated, at the situation at AlphaTauri and also that it’s clear that he’s not moving up to the number one team Red Bull again. And I think it’s just the right timing for him to get this fresh motivation again, to get to a factory drive (with) Alpine.”
About the inherent tension between Esteban Ocon and Gasly, Klien was not too bothered, as he thinks that could spur both drivers to greater heights. He said:
“Maybe they push each other as well? Of course, maybe there’s a little bit of tension there. But in the end, they are both old enough now to be on top of those little issues they had in the past. I think they can push each other if there’s a little bit of tension as well, if they pull together in the same direction. It can also help the team.”
Ocon (78) is eighth in the standings, while Gasly (23) is 13th ahead of the US GP this weekend.
Esteban Ocon expects no issues with Pierre Gasly
Pierre Gasly's future teammate at Alpine, Esteban Ocon, has said that the duo would make a good team. When asked by Motorsport.com, if the two would be able to work well together, Ocon replied in the affirmative, saying:
“Yeah, we will do. And to be honest, I think it's an awesome story to tell. I mean, we started go-karting together. That's pretty crazy. I have a lot of fantastic memories obviously with Pierre when we were kids. And you know, we lost ourselves a little bit. He was doing different championships; he went to Japan, I was staying in Europe, different teams, different times."
He added:
“I think it would be great to collaborate together. It's not only myself now from Normandy, we are all three from Normandy, me, Pierre and the brand. So if we can bring that team to the top and make Normandy win, that would be something special. I think there are some great things that we can create there. The minimum is for us to do a perfect job obviously for the team and work well together. But I'm sure everything will be good."
Alpine will be the first team for Pierre Gasly outside the Red Bull family. It will be interesting to see how he fares.
