Fernando Alonso's comments on Alpine's 4th-place happiness refuted by Esteban Ocon: "We want to obviously achieve more"

Alpine driver Esteban Ocon refuted claims by former teammate Fernando Alonso that the French team was happy finishing fourth in the championship. The former Alpine driver made these claims during the Aston Martin car launch a few days ago as he contrasted the Silverstone-based squad with other midfield teams.

According to the Spaniard, while other teams in the midfield celebrate and even target finishing fourth in the championship, Aston Martin is not going to let up until it wins the title.

When questioned about his former teammate's comments, Esteban Ocon refuted them, stating that Alpine was happy to finish fourth only because that was the best possible with the performance of the package in hand. He claimed that the team wants to improve and win, just like it did with the Frenchman in Hungary in 2021. He said:

"No, we didn't celebrate, we were happy obviously because this is what we are fighting for at the time, with the performance that we had and obviously, no what we have in sight is climbing up, getting on podiums, getting wins like we had in Hungary."

He added:

"If we are satisfied with fourth I would have let past Sebastian Vettel when I won in 2021 so that's not the case. So, I mean, we move forward from 4th. Last year it was great to finish with that but we want to obviously achieve more and keep that in sight."

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The new Alpine is a good evolution of last year's car

Esteban Ocon revealed that the new Alpine was a good evolution of last year's car, the one that propelled the team ahead of McLaren in the championship standings. He said:

"It is true that obviously we have a gap to close but we've driven the car a little bit this year on our filming day and I have to say it is a good evolution of last year. "

Ocon added:

"I'm proud of what the guys have achieved this winter, it's much more detailed, it looks much more clean, the details and all the linkage, you know, every part is very very nice and can't wait to get started in Bahrain and see where we go but obviously we need to wait until everyone puts maximum power and get ready for qualifying. But up until then, I'm very pleased with the job that the guys did."

Ocon will team up with Pierre Gasly at Alpine this year as the team tries to consolidate a strong 2022 F1 season.