“He’s still motivated, and he’s the lion he was”: Esteban Ocon talks about Fernando Alonso’s F1 future
Fernando Alonso
For French F1 racer Esteban Ocon, the 2022 season has gone pretty well so far, thanks to his consistent top 10 finishes with almost no reliability issues with his Alpine A522. But the same cannot be said for his teammate, the two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso who has not had any luck with his racecar as it has caused his to retire from two of the nine races that have happened till now in the F1 2022 Championship.
While Alonso had a brilliant starting position of P2 in last week’s Canadian Grand Prix, he could only finish ninth in the Main Race and that has given rise to some speculations about his retirement in 2023. Esteban Ocon has now spoken on topic of whether he believes he would get to team up with Alonso again for the next season, and he has also described the team dynamics that he shares with the Spaniard.
Esteban Ocon talks about whether Alpine would continue with Fernando post 2023
While Esteban Ocon is guaranteed a seat at Alpine till 2024 because of a contract that he signed with the French team in 2021, his teammate Fernando Alonso has a deal which lasts till the end of 2022 only. This means that, at the end of this year’s Formula 1 Championship, Fernando Alonso will find himself without a seat, should Alpine decide not to extend his current contract. But at age 40, Alonso shows no signs of slowing down as he has expressly stated that he wants to continue in this sport for “at least a few more seasons”.
When Esteban Ocon was approached for his take on whether Fernando would be offered a contract extension by Alpine at the end of 2022, he said, “Fernando doesn’t have to prove anything. If he wants to continue in Formula 1, he will stay. He’s still motivated, and he’s the lion he was.”
Ocon also talked about his relation with Fernando as the two have been teammates for almost two seasons now–“Being a teammate of Fernando is great. When he joined the team, I told a lot of people that it would be very difficult and all these things that are not true at all. I think we make a good couple, and I really enjoy working with him.
Read More: “Any conversations around buying McLaren is a non-starter” : Zak Brown
Riddhi Mondal
(1821 Articles Published)