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Alpine are not ruling a driver swap after Esteban Ocon collided with his team-mate, Pierre Gasly on the opening lap of the Monaco GP.
Esteban Ocon launched an attack on his teammate up the inside of portier leading to the pair colliding on exit.
Ocon’s car was pitched into the air, putting an end to his race. Gasly was able to continue and had a solid drive to p10, scoring his first points of the season.
Ocon took to social media to apologise for the incident and was handed a five-place grid penalty for the Canadian GP.
He wrote: “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.”
Alpine team principal Bruno Famin was clearly angry with the incident and was interviewed by Canal+ mid race.
He said: “We have a lot of damage on the car. The left rear suspension is bent, the gearbox casing is damaged. We’re changing the whole gearbox, it’s a huge amount of work.
“This kind of incident is sad, it’s exactly what we didn’t want to see. Esteban’s dive was completely out of place, it was exactly what we didn’t want to see, and there will be appropriate consequences.”
It is believed that “serious consequences” could equate to a fine or stopping Gasly and Ocon from going wheel to wheel completely.
But the nuclear option is thought to be replacing Ocon for one or multiple races.
The pair have had multiple incidents and near misses, most notably in Miami when they nearly took each other out on the opening lap.
Ocon also has a history of incidents with his teammates. Him and Sergio Perez collided three times at Force India/Racing Point and Fernando Alonso was disgruntled with his driving on a few occasions before he left Alpine for Aston Martin at the end of 2022.