The fighting on track in Formula 1 is thrilling and can sometimes be incredibly brutal.
Tempers regularly flare – even between teammates – with the battle between both Alpine drivers on the first lap in Miami leaving Martin Brundle stunned that they both avoided contact.
F1 strategist Ruth Buscombe was speaking on The Fast and The Curious Podcast and wanted to highlight a much friendlier relationship between two drivers on the grid.
Buscombe has worked for several teams on the grid including Sauber, Ferrari and Haas.
During her time with the Swiss-based outfit, she worked alongside Monegasque star Charles Leclerc.
Sauber were direct rivals with Toro Rosso in 2018 when Leclerc was with the team before his move to Ferrari, meaning he was up against Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley.
Buscombe has now said that despite Leclerc and Gasly regularly battling for on track, they were the really close friends off it.
Both drivers have since moved on from that period of their careers and unfortunately for Gasly, don’t battle as regularly on track any more.
READ MORE: Alpine driver Pierre Gasly’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend
Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly are the best of friends in Formula 1
Although Leclerc drives under a Monegasque flag, he spent a lot of his junior career in France before racing around Europe.
It means he and Gasly followed similar paths to Formula 1, although he joined the Ferrari academy in 2016 meaning he was also spending time in Italy.
Gasly is two years older than Leclerc and was promoted out of GP2 after winning the championship the year before his close friend joined the rebranded Formula 2 series.
Leclerc didn’t need a year to get up to speed after winning GP3 the year before and immediately won the championship in 2017 before Ferrari placed him at Sauber for 2018.
That’s when Buscombe saw Leclerc and Gasly regularly fighting for points in cars that weren’t necessarily quick enough to always finish in the top ten.
Their respective teammates Sergey Sirotkin and Brendon Hartley finished in the bottom two positions in the Drivers’ Championship.
It meant the pressure was on Gasly and Leclerc to deliver for their teams and ultimately the 26-year-old came out on top.
READ MORE: Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend
Ruth Buscombe shares details of Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly’s ‘beautiful’ relationship
Buscombe: “In 2018 when we had Charles [Leclerc], his best friend Pierre [Gasly] was at Toro Rosso at the time.
“And that year the championship was just Sauber vs Toro Rosso every single race and it kind of went to and fro the whole season.
“It was really beautiful to kind of experience that kind of sportsmanship that really does make sport special and that’s why I love sports.
“It’s that, you’re on the track and completely rivals and you spend your entire life trying to beat these people and then you actually get into the race itself and one of you does well and one of you does badly and then at the end of it, you’re back being friends again and you can enjoy diner after the race today as family.”
Charles Leclerc on the up at Ferrari, Pierre Gasly in precarious position at Alpine
Gasly and Leclerc are close enough friends that they’ll be looking out for each other at each race weekend, but they’re frequently looking towards the opposite ends of the grid.
Charles Leclerc is signed up to a long-term deal at Ferrari and is awaiting the arrival of Lewis Hamilton in 2025.
He’s not finished outside of the top four this season and is beginning to show why Ferrari retained him ahead of Carlos Sainz.
On the other end of the spectrum, Pierre Gasly – who has 136 Grand Prix under his belt – has yet to score a point in 2024 with Alpine plummeting towards the back of the grid.
Esteban Ocon finally earned the team’s first point in Miami and Gasly narrowly missed out on a top-eight finish in the Sprint Race.
His contract runs out at the end of the year at Alpine and while he’s more likely to be retained than Ocon, he’ll almost certainly be assessing his options over the coming weeks and months.
The post ‘His best friend’: Ruth Buscombe says Charles Leclerc has a ‘really beautiful’ friendship with 136-race driver appeared first on F1 Oversteer.