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With Gasly joining Alpine for the 2023 season, the team will field an all-French driver lineup, a first in F1 since 1994. Let's take a look back at some of the legendary French driver pairings in the sport's history.
When Alpine announced that Pierre Gasly would be Esteban Ocon's teammate for 2023, the decision was presented as a national revival: a French flag flying above a French garage, two compatriots finally sharing the same seat. It also marked the latest chapter in a story that began more than seven decades ago, when the first all-French duo to line up in a Grand Prix appeared on the starting grid.
The first partnership of this kind appeared in the inaugural world championship, with Maurice Trintignant and Robert Manzon driving Gordini cars between 1950 and 1953. Their modest haul of 18 points hinted at a potential that would only fully materialize during the sport's golden decade in the 1980s.
In 1980, the Ligier team formed an all-French front line: Jacques Laffite, a pillar of the team since 1976, and newcomer Didier Pironi, fresh from Tyrrell. At the wheel of the elegant JS-11, they made Ligier a real contender. Laffite's victory at Hockenheim and Pironi's at Zolder secured two wins, while the duo's consistency earned them fourth and fifth places in the drivers' championship. Their combined efforts lifted Ligier to second place in the constructors' standings, a record that the French team still cherishes today.
A year later, Renault paired the cerebral Alain Prost with the flamboyant René Arnoux. Prost, nicknamed “The Professor,” arrived to replace Jean-Pierre Jabouille, while Arnoux brought his raw speed. The duo won seven races between 1981 and 1982 and propelled Renault to second place in the constructors' championship. However, their partnership was anything but harmonious. At the 1982 French Grand Prix, team orders demanded that Arnoux let Prost pass in the title race; Arnoux refused, took the lead, and won the race. Prost's public rebuke of his teammate highlighted a rivalry that still resonates today in F1 lore. The most spectacular French duo emerged in 1983, when Arnoux moved to Ferrari and teamed up with Patrick Tambay. At the wheel of the red F126, they claimed eight pole positions and four victories, giving the Scuderia its first constructors' championship since the early 1970s. Although Nelson Piquet won the drivers' title, Arnoux and Tambay finished third and fourth respectively, making it the most successful season for a French duo in the history of the sport.
The French tandems that followed never quite reached these heights. In 1989, Arnoux returned to Ligier alongside Olivier Grouillard, scoring just three points and a thirteenth place finish for the team. In 1991, Prost's reunion with his compatriot Jean Alesi at Ferrari resulted in 55 points and third place in the constructors' championship, while in 1994, Olivier Panis and Éric Bernard scored 13 points and seventh place for Ligier.
Today, with Gasly and Ocon reunited under the Alpine banner, French fans are hoping to see a repeat of these historic moments. Both drivers cut their teeth on the karting circuits at the age of seven, their early rivalry honing the skills that would later earn them a place in the premier class. After separate debuts (Ocon in 2016, Gasly in 2017), their careers have been marked by promotions, demotions, and a first victory for Gasly. The 2023 season offers them a rare opportunity to transform their personal rivalry into collective ambition, writing a new chapter in the long and sometimes turbulent saga of French teammates in Formula 1.
