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

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

The weekend race on the Jeddah track will surely be remembered for the close battle between Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen in the last lap but it will more promptly be remembered by the fight between the two Alpine teammates, Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon who were seen fighting against each other on the track, which surely was a sight for sore eyes.

The Alpine teammates were seen engaging in a thrilling three-way battle that eventually went in the way of Alonso, with the team principal, Otmar Szafnauer giving the duo a green light to do so only if they, “keep Bottas behind”. Both the drivers were back at it again with the battle coming to an end when Alonso squeezed around the outside as he tried to pass by.

Esteban Ocon’s reaction to the team battle

Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso
Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso

Ocon was then instructed to, “Hold position, hold position” as Valtteri Bottas was right behind his tail and soon was seen losing his position to Valtteri. But he did manage to bring in some points for the team by coming P6 after his teammate, Fernando Alonso, and Valtteri Bottas had to retire their cars due to various problems arising in their machinery.

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“Honestly, it’s super tight now with the cars, we can follow each other very closely.” As Ocon went on about speaking of his tussle with the two-time World Champion. Ocon explained why it was important for him to hold the position, “saying, suddenly, the best defense is the attack, and there was Valtteri behind so it was important to keep the position in front.”

Esteban Ocon liked racing and competing with Fernando as it helps push the performance of their team and it was also a good source of entertainment for the audience who went wild seeing the two teammates go at it.

After Alonso retired his car due to power failure, Ocon did not disappoint the team when he overtook Lando Norris pretty much on the line securing a sixth place with just a gap of 0.107seconds ahead of the McLaren. This surely was a small moment of redemption for the Alpine driver as last year at the very end of the Grand Prix, he too was overtaken by Bottas resulting in the loss of a podium win.

As of now, Alpine has had strong two weeks, currently P4 on the constructor’s championship with just 4 points ahead of Haas and 21 behind Red Bull.

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