The race resumed in Interlagos after the ‘Virtual Safety Car’, with Fernando Alonso behind of Esteban Ocon. Alpine was very clear on the radio. “Don’t fight with Fernando, don’t fight with Fernando”, the engineer told the Frenchman. But he protested: “Let me fight”.
Now Alpine has agreed with Ocon, who wanted to overtake Sebastian Vettel before letting Alonso pass. This has commented otmar szafnauer: “The ‘let me run’ was let me overtake Sebastian Vettel at the exit. And Sebastian, if I remember correctly, was on the medium tires used at the time and we were on the softs.”
“Stephen I was right to say it, you know, let me run before I allow Fernando to leave, as we had asked. So it was absolutely right for him to do it in order to finish in a position as high as possible”, explains the team boss.
Highlights the “teamwork”something that was not seen in the sprint where they collided. “This just showed that if you play as a team everything will be better for everyone, including them. They did what you really expect from professional racing drivers,” says Szafnauer.
“They were on different strategies, they understood it as we discussed beforehand. Fernando was in three stops, so he had new tires at the end and Esteban let him through after he wanted to attack Sebastian, and it worked very well. If they crash into each other and nobody scores”, sentence.
Ocon did not fight with Alonso and let him pass. The Spaniard’s pace was similar to that of the Mercedes in the lead. He finished in fifth place, his best position in 2022. And he once again showed that he is one of the best grid drivers.
There is one race left to finish the championship, in Abu Dhabi. And the two Alpine riders will fight for eighth place in the riders’ standings. ocon has one five point lead about an Alonso who will need a race like the one in Brazil to finish ahead.
