Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly criticised Esteban Ocon’s approach after their battle during Formula 1’s Mexican Grand Prix, claiming "it is always the same thing" with the Force India driver.
Gasly, having started from the back of the grid, caught Ocon and tried to make a move into Turn 4, but the Force India driver defended, with Gasly taking to the run-off.
Stewards investigated the incident but deemed no further action was necessary, while Gasly ultimately went on to take a point for 10th, leaving Ocon down in 11th.
“With Ocon, it’s always the same thing, I’ve known him for a long time, there are a lot of chances that things happen,” said Gasly.
“I think he wasn’t very happy that I had started last and managed to overtake him, so he pushed me wide and I had to go off track.
“I could have forced my way in Turn 5 and we would have had contact, but it wasn’t worth it, as I could have another go after that.
“For me, it wasn’t fair, because you leave to space for one car, but if they say you can race aggressively I don’t mind.
“I think to compare it with many other situations, like with me in Silverstone, so it seems to be quite a grey area, as normally you should leave space for one car and clearly there wasn’t space for one car there.
“In the end, I don’t care, because I finished ahead of him and I scored one point, and he didn’t score points.”
Gasly added that the fight cost him a shot at overhauling Marcus Ericsson for ninth.
“I think at the moment this rivalry is not good for any of us, we lost 2.5s, which cost me a flat spot too, maybe I could have finished P9,” he said.
“We need to be objective, I don’t think that was any good, but I don’t want to waste a lot of energy on that.
“I try to focus on my race and try to make it clean, but this was slightly over the limit. In the end, I finished in front of him and that’s OK.”
