“He did not want internal challenges,” Fernando Alonso rubbishes Otmar Szafnauer’s claim of allowing him to race Esteban Ocon in Jeddah
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Otmar Szafnauer and Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso has been involved in a lot of heated duels in his career but we haven’t seen him lock horns with his team mate on a lot of occasions. Yes, we have seen him defend ‘like a lion’ for his team mate, Esteban Ocon, against Lewis Hamilton which helped the Frenchman to win his first ever Grand Prix. But, he was up against his team mate in the second race of the season in Jeddah.
We have seen this trend of Team Principals ordering their drivers not to race recently. The biggest example of that was when Red Bull ordered Sergio Perez to let Max Verstappen through in the Spanish GP after Charles Leclerc retired from the race. This was done to ensure that the Dutchman could take a lead in the championship. That did attract a lot of criticism for the team and Christian Horner.
But, on the contrary, it seemed like there were no team orders at Alpine in Jeddah which allowed us to see an enthralling between the teacher and the student. After the race, Otmar Szafnauer explained that he had absolutely no problem with the two drivers battling it out between themselves, especially this early in the season. But, Fernando Alonso has come out to deny that.
Also read: Pirelli chief gives clarification to Sebastian Vettel regarding issue with the rain tyres
Fernando Alonso said that boss Otmar Szafnauer didn’t appreciate his duel with Esteban Ocon in Saudi Arabia
Fernando Alonso clarified that Otmar Szafnauer never actually appreciated that duel involving him and Esteban Ocon. He said, “For us it was fine, while for the our bosses was a little too risky.”
“We respect each other a lot, but Laurent Rossi – Alpine CEO – and Otmar, after the race, told Esteban and me that ‘ maybe we were too close.”
“I know you both trust each other, but we would like to have less competition on the track,” as reported by formulapassion.
It’s pretty shocking to see the vast difference between what was told to the media and the actual reality. The fans want all the drivers to fight out amongst themselves, irrespective of the team. But, if this does continue, it does take away from the excitement of hard but fair racing.
Also read: Lance Stroll on the Aston Martin upgrade: “Would have been faster if it was a copy”
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Shubham Bajpai
(776 Articles Published)