5 times F1 drivers refused to speak with their fellow drivers after race incidents

Racing incidents aren’t uncommon in a sport like F1. If anything, such incidents are quite expected on the track. At times, it even rides up the crowd. From declining team calls to giving other drivers a tough time, racing incidents span the spectrum. In a high-pressure environment, friends can easily turn into bitter rivals.

Over the years, audiences have seen teammates turn on each other. The glory of becoming an F1 champion sometimes obscures everything else. On the track, a driver makes a mistake, which then results in a vicious war. Drivers refuse to speak each other, criticize each other, and sometimes even trigger off-track drama.

2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix previews (Image via F1)

This list of drivers not speaking to each other also consists of many former friends. People who grew up together and raced against each other. Some even came up through the karting program to reach professional racing, only to later lose that friendship.

5) Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon’s toxic F1 friendship

Who could have thought that F1 duo Gasly and Ocon were friends at one point? But that’s true. The two French drivers have a lot in common. Their hometowns are barely 45 kms apart, and they became good friends while karting together.

Mercedes camp, where Toto Wolff simply did not know what to do. The two extremely talented drivers were friends, having matured in the Mercedes program during their karting years. They expressed public sentiments of happiness and grief at the other’s victories and losses.

However, Rosberg chose to win ahead of Hamilton when he conveniently parked his car in a corner during Monaco GP 2014 while Hamilton was on a flying lap. This obviously derailed the latter’s pole chances, who then angrily claimed:

“We are not friends. We are colleagues.”

But this was only the beginning of the problems that were about to concoct at camp Silver Arrows. The two have since then publicly admitted that they did not speak to each other and only spoke to Wolff and Niki Lauda.

Their conversations would only happen to the point where they were necessary and nothing beyond that. Then there was the iconic cap throw.

2) Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel’s falling out

The two started out great with many hailing Webber as a future world champion with Red Bull. However, things took a turn for the worse when Vettel snatched a world title victory in 2010. It is widely claimed to have been largely favored by Red Bull throughout the years.

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