Alpine has a very competitive pair of drivers in which Fernando Alonso stands out. Otmar Szafnauer has met the Spanish driver this year and admits to being very impressed.
Fernando Alonso he will turn 41 in July, but his performance remains as usual. Despite the fact that his results at the start of the season have been disappointing, none of them can be attributed to his lack of speed or rhythm, but rather to a series of misfortunes or mechanical breakdowns.
Sooner or later, Fernando Alonso will begin to achieve the results he deserves for performance and Otmar Szafnauer He has no doubt of that after working with the two-time champion for the first time since Alpine’s current director came to Formula 1 in 1998.
“Alonso is very similar to Vettel, although he motivates people differently”
«He is at the top, among the best I have worked with. He is very, very quick at learning circuits, gives good feedback and adapts to different scenarios, situations on the track.”
“He’s also an incredible competitor, like some of the others I’ve worked with, he leaves no stone unturned. He wants all the performance we can get from the car and from himself.”points out Otmar Szafnauer.
“And that’s because if you do those things, you have a better chance on the track. Alonso is very similar to Sebastian (Vettel) in that sense. I think he motivates people differently than Seb does. But each one has its own personality, technique », he reiterates.
Stephen Ocon
Szafnauer has been important in Esteban Ocon’s sports career. In 2017, he resisted the mercedes pressures to take Pascal Wherleim to Force India, betting heavily on the Frenchman. Now the two have met again.
«I have always liked Esteban. I consider myself one of the fundamental people in his life, who helped him get to Formula 1. Toto (Wolff, Mercedes team principal) put a lot of pressure on me at that time to take Wehrlein and I chose Esteban»reveal.
“That’s not to say that Esteban wouldn’t have had another ride, because it’s never a controlled experiment, but I sure put him in the car and then the rest was up to him. And he showed how good he was; he was very good against the drivers he facedand I think that’s why he ended up with another seat, and that made me happy.”
At that time, Sergio Pérez shared a team with Esteban Ocon with Szafnauer in the team, so the now director of Alpine has a similar memory of the Mexican. “Something similar happened to Sergio (Pérez). He was out of the game for a while and then he ended up at Red Bull, I’m happy about that too.”he concludes.
Source: formula1.com
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Photos: Alpine F1 Team