Esteban Ocon has claimed he was “overworked” and did all the testing at Alpine in a dig at Fernando Alonso. The Frenchman revealed he helped the team with 98 per cent of the car’s development with Alonso helping just two per cent of the time.
Ocon also suggested he was happy Alonso was leaving the team at the end of the season as tensions boil over. Alonso criticized Ocon in the press after the two came together during the Brazilian Grand Prix sprint race.
The Spaniard mentioned it had been “like this” all year and was happy that he had only “one more race” together. In an interview with Ouest France, Ocon responded: “Of course, I was disappointed by what he said in the press and not internally. We didn’t have any discussions about it.
“I will keep the respect I have for him. It’s good that he’s going to Aston Martin and that we are going our separate ways. Honestly, the work was 98 per cent on my back and two per cent on his.
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“I was overworked. I was doing all the development in the simulator, the marketing trips.” Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer admitted the pair had received a talking to by CEO Laurent Rossi after the incident in Sao Paulo.
Rossi stressed to the two drivers that any other employee would have been sacked from the team for a similar feud. Szafnauer explained: “He just made the good points that this is a team and we’ve got over 1000 people between Viry and Enstone working tirelessly to give them the equipment, the car, the upgrades that they all longed for.
“And then they have to play their part as team-mates too to bring the cars home and score good points, which is what he said. And he also told them that they’re privileged to be racing car drivers, and if they had any other job in the company, and they did something like that, they would be let go for gross misconduct. And it’s true.”
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The collision in Interlagos was not the first time the two Alpine drivers had come to blows. Alonso branded Ocon’s defense at the Hungarian Grand Prix as “quite extreme”.
The pair also battled hard at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix but this unfortunately cost them track position as Valtteri Bottas got past both of them. Alonso has already made the switch to Aston Martin with Pierre Gasly set to join Alpine for 2023.
Double world champion Alonso was confident after his first run with his new team at the post-season Abu Dhabi test. He commented: “When I signed for Aston Martin, I was 90 percent happy.
“When they started improving and finished the season on a high, I was 100 per cent. This morning, I was 100 and now I’m 100-plus.”
