“I would have stopped Alpine battle sooner,” David Coulthard on the Alonso-Ocon battle at Jeddah

“I would have stopped Alpine battle sooner,” David Coulthard on the Alonso-Ocon battle at Jeddah

Fernando Alonso(on the left) and Esteban Ocon(on the right)

Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon’s battle was one of the most significant things from the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix that caught everyone’s attention. The Spanish and French driver were engaged in trying to overtake each other.

In the other 9 teams on the Formula One grid, there might have been instructions from respective team principals to hold their positions, but such was not the case when it came to Alpine. Alpine’s team principal Otmar Szafnauer was more than happy for the Alpine duo to race against each other until Ocon was finally instructed to hold his station.

British former racing driver and 13-time race winner David Coulthard thinks otherwise. Coulthard believes that if he were in a position of authority like that of Szafnauer, he would have instructed the Alpine duo to stop battling each other at Jeddah, which is notorious for being the fastest circuit in the world. Coulthard believes that battling your teammate in a track like Jeddah is not how one wins the race.

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“You never score points if you can’t finish” : David Coulthard

David Coulthard
David Coulthard

David Coulthard had a word with Alpine team boss Otmar Szafnauer and had asked him if he was okay with Ocon and Alonso racing each other on the tracks. To that Szafauer replied, “I’m fine with our guys racing early because it wasn’t costing us too much time.” “Laterally though, it started to take away from the bigger picture of the race, but he’s more disappointed of course about Alonso’s car stopping on track,” added the former racing driver.

“You never score points if you can’t finish.” Coulthard highlighted on how if he were in Szafnauer’s position, he’d have instructed the two drivers to break it off early on in the race since they should be aiming for a podium finish. Alpine had a victory last season, so they should be on the lookout for such lucrative opportunities. “And scrapping so hard that early, as entertaining as it was, won’t get them the fastest race.”

He also threw some light on the implications of the Alpine duo’s battle on the race as Ocon was initially overtaken by Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas and Alonso was forced to retire his A522. After being asked to abandon in the pit lane, the Spaniard responded harshly, but Coulthard said it demonstrates that the 40-year-old still has a desire to race in Formula One. “It’s one thing to sort of play to the cameras,” Coulthard added.

Also Read: “It pushes the performance of the team and it’s interesting,” Esteban Ocon on battle with Fernando Alonso in Jeddah