Gasly endured ‘long flight home’ after Ocon AGP crash

Pierre Gasly has conceded to enduring a long flight home from Melbourne following his Australian Grand Prix crash with Alpine team-mate Esteban Ocon.

The French duo were poised to bring home a strong haul of points ahead of the second restart of what proved to be a chaotic race.

But a chain of events sparked by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz tagging and sending Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso into a spin resulted in Gasly colliding with Ocon out of Turn 2, sending both into a wall.

Gasly ultimately escaped a penalty for the collision, and what could have been a ban.

Asked by Speedcafe whether on reflection he could have done anything differently, Gasly replied: “I think it was quite unfortunate.

“We discussed things after with the team and with Esteban, and we felt like we both could have done different, not particularly myself more than him or himself more than me.

“It was just an unfortunate situation. Wrong time wrong wrong place for both of us, and everything is fine.

“Obviously, it was a long flight back home because up until to that point I was in fifth position, 10 points, and it would have been nice to have secured these points for the team in my third race.

“But when I look back, we have another 20 races, and I’m definitely positive about the performance that we showed.

“I felt more comfortable in the car, and set-up wise I was happier, as well with the directions we took.

“I’m more looking at it in a positive way but it wasn’t a great flight back home.”

Gasly adamant he and Ocon have “moved on”

Given the past history between the two drivers stemming back from their karting days, there has always been the suspicion they would likely endure an incident at some stage.

On this occasion, however, what unfolded was simply unfortunate, with neither predominantly at fault.

“That’s why, honestly, it’s been very easy to discuss things out,” added Gasly. “As I said, it was just quite clear what happened on track.

“We discussed the situation, what things could have been different. At the end of the day, it’s all fine and we’ve moved on.

“There was nothing particular, just disappointment from all of us, myself, the team, from Esteban’s side, just disappointment not to get the points for the team.”