Alpine suffered the consequences last Saturday of a fight between teammates that has already exceeded the limits. And for that reason he had to take action on the matter. Playing a prestigious fourth place in the World Championship with McLaren, Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon were the protagonists of a battle during the sprint, with two touches between them, which turned out to be unnecessary. The brand admitted how disappointed they were with their drivers, who were forced to rally from the back of the grid for Sunday’s race. And, despite everything, luck was on their side because they ended up adding a good harvest of points while those from Woking left with two more abandonments under their arms.
And the Spaniard was, once again, the hero for Alpine. He had one of his best races of the season and, even with the problems he had at the start of the event, he was able to work his magic. three stops away Fernando showed a level that few had on the track and was able to climb up to fifth place. His teammate, Esteban Ocon, was able to finish eighth and the team’s disappointment became a miracle. The team, led by Otmar Szafnauer, will play everything in Abu Dhabi with a comfortable cushion of points, 19 away from McLaren. However, not everything was happiness in the French brand and The drivers’ radios were once again the protagonists at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
In view of what happened last Saturday, Alpine warned their pilots very clearly. No fighting between the two, just enough to row in the same direction. And, since Alonso had the winning pace, Ocon had no choice but to follow orders. However, it was not a tasteful dish for the Frenchman, especially when they asked him to focus on Vettel and let the Spaniard pass, who had a clear advantage: “Let me run, at the right time I will, once the situation settles down a bit more. We can lose everything now in the restart.” At the insistence of his team, he stressed: “I need to pass Vettel now. I am not going to fight with Fernando”.
“Alonso is a legend”
After the race, Ocon clarified everything he said on the radio: “People thought that they did not want to let Fernando pass. And what I said was: ‘I’m not letting him pass at the restart, I’m going to pass Vettel and then once that situation is resolved, we’ll figure it out. I’m not going to fight, I’m going to let him go’. And that is what I did. I couldn’t have kept up with him, he was very fast on the softs and obviously it was good points for the team. He knew that he was in that situation and the team didn’t need to tell me what to do”.
And he admitted how much Alonso’s words bothered him after the sprint on Saturday, when he accused him of taking him against the wall: “It was not very nice what he said in the press about me. I have always had a lot of respect for him. He is a legend and I will always respect him. And yes, it doesn’t matter what you told the media. I prefer that we talk about it face to face.” About the Spanish team change, Ocon is clear: “Going to race in Aston Martin motivates me even more to beat him next year!” Abu Dhabi will be their last race together and after that the rivalry will not go away. In fact, it might get stronger.