“98% of the work fell on me, and 2% on him. I did all the simulator development”: these were the harsh words of Esteban Ocon, later supported by Alpinelabeling as lazy Fernando Alonso after the double world champion of Formula 1 leave the French team after a disastrous year in terms of reliability.
In fact, similar statements about the Asturian are not remembered, who, on the contrary, has always been praised for his constant and hard work behind the scenes with the team.
Well, as revealed Tom McCulloughhead of performance Aston Martinthe same day of the presentation of the AMR23Alonso passed four hours of simulatorin addition to serving various media such as ‘gamers’. All this, at almost 42 years old.
“Your commitment is certainly amazing.. That’s the kind of boost we’re getting from him, pushing us all very hard because he wants to do very well, just like us,” McCullough told ‘Motorsport’.
“He has a hunger that surprises you at this point in his career, he is a force for us, a direct hit“, Add.
Dan Fallowsa former Red Bull engineer and author of the AMR23, also praises Fernando’s figure: “He is very focused. I think that is the right word. He is also very efficient with the way he speaks. There are no wasted words. He is just focused. ‘This is what we should be doing, this is my idea’. Super motivated.”
“I’ve always really liked watching him work from the outside. You see things from the outside because it was a big challenge at times. His performance on the track, the number of times you raced against him, even without such a nice car and it was just a bummer“, Explain.
“He’s always there, week after week, qualifying well, racing well. You hear it on the radio and it’s all over the strategythe car in front of him, behind him, what they’re doing with his tyres, where he is in relation to them,” he says.
“So we’re looking forward to seeing him in a race and qualifying situation because he’s like an extra. Very experienced, good engineer, but someone very motivated and competitive”, he adds.
Of course, from Aston Martin they know that the level of demand with Alonso is maximum. Mike Krackhead of the team, claims that it is impossible to “hide” from him.
“Obviously, if the car is not what we wanted, there will be some tough conversations soon, but we will have to be prepared to have them because there is no way to hide and you cannot hide from Fernando Alonso. So I think we are going to open the visor in the discussions, be honest, open with transparency and I don’t expect any problems,” he says.
The words of the three ‘bosses’ of Aston Martin collide head-on with the statements of Esteban Ocon and Alpinewho took advantage of Alonso’s departure to a rival team to attack him.
