Much is being said about Fernando Alonso, Oscar Piastri and the decision that Alpine will make in relation to its second driver for 2023. But what about Esteban Ocon? He has a current contract and reiterates his faith in the Anglo-French team.
Since joining Renault in 2020, Stephen Ocon He has become the franchise driver of the team that now defends the colors of Alpine. A French driver with projection in a French brand and engine team makes sense.
That is why Ocon is usually the one who carries the weight of marketing operations, brand promotion and team representation in various events, even though Fernando Alonso is a two-time world champion and one of the greats on the grid.
“They told me that they wanted to win as much as I did, they are great competitors too”
In fact, Esteban Ocon is the only Alpine driver with a current contract, no less than until 2024. And that despite actually belonging to Mercedes. Although the truth is that it is not likely that he will return to the star mark at some point.
Everything is in place
It is not surprising, therefore, that Esteban Ocon defends the Alpine project tooth and nail, although his arguments may be more interesting.
“Alpine has everything it takes to shine in Formula 1, if it didn’t have it and if it didn’t trust the team, I wouldn’t be with them at the moment,” says the French driver. «My goal is to be world champion one day, I am not satisfied with being part of the grid and running all the races».
“What I want is to create more special memories like last year in Budapest. The podium in Qatar with Fernando was also special and sIf you ask him if Alpine has what it takes to go far, he would say yes»says Alonso’s partner.
But what encourages Ocon to have faith in Alpine? “That is the ambition of Laurent Rossi and the ambition of Luca De Meo, the same can be said of Otmar Szafnauer. All team leaders think the same. You have to progress and reach the top. It is not the same process in all the teams and I fully trust this project.”
“When Laurent joined the team, we had a conversation about what we wanted to achieve in the future and they They told me that they wanted to win as much as I did, they are great competitors too»reiterates Ocon, who even tells an anecdote to illustrate the ambition of the CEO of Alpine Cars.
“Later, Laurent and I went to play squash and I could trust him completely, he was more than a competitor, I gave it my all, I almost broke my arm and he beat me. I can tell that he wants to win at all costs»he concluded.
Source: Beyond The Grid
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Photos: Alpine F1 Team