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Ocon talks about his relationship with Alonso: "Press likes to talk a lot"
Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso were teammates at Alpine in 2021 and 2022. The two drivers got along reasonably well, but they will never be each other's best friends. Speaking tO A , Ocon, who still races for the French racing stable, was asked about his relationship with his former teammate.
Last month, Aston Martin driver Alonso openly criticised Ocon. "He [Lance Stroll] is a driver who thinks about the team, as we saw in Baku. Last year I had maybe the opposite. Always my teammate acted like I was the first target. So that was obviously not beneficial to the team," he said..
The way the 41-year-old driver left Alpine came pretty out of the blue, but that the relationship had not been at its best for a while was once again evident during the Grand Prix weekend in Miami. Alonso poked fun at his former employer in free practice when Ocon passed him. "Alpine races with us in free practice. Free practice is their moment!"
Ocon talks about Alonso
Alonso and Ocon and Alonso and Alpine are not each other's greatest friends, but how does Ocon view it? "The press likes to talk a lot, but everything is going well. I have enormous respect for him and always will. Now we race close to each other. Not as close as we would like, but we do compete on the track," said the Frenchman, who overtook Alonso for seventh at the Spanish GP, but still finished behind him in P8.
That Alonso has already been on the podium five times in 2023, Ocon thinks is impressive. "Fernando is having a fantastic season, I respect him. I have no doubt that he is still at his best. I have raced with him over the past few years and he shows everyone that he is one of the best ever. Hats off to him. He is doing incredibly well, I am happy about that and I hope to get to that level soon."