Esteban Ocon 'did really good teamwork' with Fernando Alonso narrowing down Alpine's gap to McLaren at 2022 F1 Canadian GP

Esteban Ocon believes he and Fernando Alonso did well together as a team to maximize their cars’ potential and score well at the 2022 F1 Canadian GP, on a day when their chief rival McLaren had an abysmal showing.

Speaking to RN365 in a post-race interview, Ocon said:

“I think, from our side, we can be pleased with [the race]. We maximised the potential overall, because the cars ahead were too quick, and the cars behind were a bit quicker than us, to be fair. We tried to play the team game, for me to give the DRS [Drag Reduction System] to Fernando. We did that well; executed perfectly. It’s a big boost for us in the Constructors’ Championship, and McLaren not scoring helps us quite a lot.”

The Alpine A522 was easily the third quickest car on the grid in Montréal; at least at the hands of Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard was blisteringly quick throughout the weekend and exploited changeable conditions in qualifying to get himself onto the front row of the grid.

With teammate Esteban Ocon starting from P7, both Alpine’s looked set to score well and potentially overtake McLaren in the constructors’ championship. Alonso’s race day, however, didn’t go to plan after his engine started losing power on Lap 20. An ill-timed pit stop late in the race further hampered his progress and dropped him out of the top-5.

Meanwhile, Ocon said that his car “came alive” in Montréal and called for the team to understand why they were so quick on that particular track.

He said:

“I think the car felt a little bit more alive than it did in the last two days. There’s still plenty for us to understand on why that was.”

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Esteban Ocon trusted Fernando Alonso to not pass him while fighting against Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas

Esteban Ocon reportedly trusted Fernando Alonso not to overtake him for P6 when he slowed down and allowed the latter to have DRS to fight off Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas.

Without Ocon’s help late in the race, Alonso would have been a sitting duck against Bottas and the second Alfa Romeo of Guanyu Zhou. Speaking to RN365, Ocon said:

“I was backing off to him [on] purpose to try and [help] him to get the tow from me to be able to defend from Valtteri. I was trusting him and the team for that not to happen. We did really good teamwork all together, and we managed to hold off [Bottas] just, because it was – from the mirror [when] I was looking in the race – a bit tight!”

Fernando Alonso’s efforts at holding off the Alfa Romeos were in vain, however, as his last lap defense against Valtteri Bottas was deemed unsafe by the stewards. Consequently, the Spaniard received a five-second time penalty, dropping him behind the Alfa Romeos to P9.