Esteban Ocon should be nicknamed the French minister of defence, asserts Alpine boss Otmar Szafnaeur

Esteban Ocon had a great 2022 F1 season with Alpine. While he wasn't able to bag a podium finish like last year, he scored loads of points and finished above his teammate Fernando Alonso. Otmar Szafnaeur, Alpine's team boss, has praised the Frenchman and humorously tried to give him a new nickname for his performances.

Speaking in a press briefing, Otmar mentioned how Perez is called the 'minister of defence' and said that he wanted to give that nickname to Esteban Ocon instead. He jokingly asked around the press briefing room for the translation of 'minister of defence' in French. He said:

“I know Checo's nickname is minister of defence, but maybe we should change that to... what's minister of defence in France? Let's figure out what that is. Figure out what that is and give him that nickname!”

During the same press briefing, Otmar also spoke about how Esteban Ocon was able to perform exceptionally well even when the team was down. He also reminisced about the Frenchman's performance during the 2022 F1 Japanese GP where he defended his position against Lewis Hamilton.

Alpine's team principal said:

"There were other times where we thought, 'oh no, the performance isn't there', and then he pulled it out. So really, really good for him. But yeah, Suzuka stands out to me. That was amazing! Lewis [Hamilton], in a Mercedes, very good in the wet, changeable conditions, drying conditions, driving in your mirrors all time, Lewis was in the faster car. I mean, just look where [Mercedes] finished the championship. And he held him off. Brilliant.”

After the press briefing, Ocon gifted a signed Alpine F1 race suit from 2021 to Otmar. Later on, when Otmar asked about the nickname idea, the Frenchman translated it to 'ministre de la défense'.

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Esteban Ocon praises Alpine's PU despite several DNFs in 2022 F1 season

It is no secret that Alpine suffered in 2022 with several DNFs. Though various components could cause reliability issues in a Formula 1 car, Esteban Ocon believes their power unit has nothing to do with their misfortune.

Speaking to the media, the Frenchman explained how the team's power units are brilliant. He said:

“I think it’s very good; it’s one of our good assets. As we’ve seen in Brazil, we had good straight-line speed, very good, I was quite impressed with that we were able to do good overtakes. I don’t have the numbers. I’m not really too curious on that side. I let the engineer look at that, but it’s definitely working well.”

During the 2022 F1 season, the Frenchman faced two DNFs while his former teammate Fernando Alonso had to retire the car five times. The Spaniard ended his relationship with the team on a sour note and joined Aston Martin for 2023.