After an unfortunate end to the virtual safety car period that upset Fernando Alonso’s strategy, and the Spaniard suffering from an engine problem for much of the race, the two Alpine drivers found themselves in front of each other in the last part of the Canadian race.
However, the one in fifth position was Esteban Ocon, whom the Spaniard had beaten by more than a second and a half in qualifying and who had been behind his teammate in each of the three free practice sessions.
Behind them, Valtteri Bottas threatened to overtake at least Alonso, so Alpine decided that Ocon would give the two-time champion DRS to better defend himself.
When asked by Motorsport.com about the results of the Canadian GP, the Frenchman celebrated having managed to execute the DRS plan well. And it is that, despite the fact that he later fell to ninth place due to a penalty for his defense against Bottas, Alonso had managed to keep the Alfa Romeo behind until the finish line.
“I think we maximized our potential overall, because the cars in front were too quick and the cars behind were a bit quicker than us, to be honest,” Ocon began.
“Valtteri at the end was putting a lot of pressure on Fernando. And we tried to make a team game so that I gave Fernando the DRS. And we did it well, we executed it perfectly. So yes, adding with the two is a great boost. for us in the constructors’ championship.
Asked if he expected more pressure from Alonso at the end, he commented: “Fernando had a bit of a problem with the engine. So he was losing a bit of power. So I slowed my pace on purpose to try and help him get slipstream and DRS for to be able to defend against Valtteri. So we did a very good team job, all together, and we managed to hold on to the limit, because in the mirror I was looking at the race and it was a bit tight”.
And when asked if he was afraid that Alonso, who Alpine had ordered not to fight with his partner, would attack him at some point while having DRS, the Frenchman was calm.
“Well, I trusted, obviously, in him and in the team so that this would not happen. We already did it in the past, in Brazil 2021, and there I did not try to pass him at that time either”.
In Alpine they explained that deciding that their pilots not battle each other was easy. Team manager Otmar Szafnauer put it this way: “We were already fifth and sixth, right? So what do you want to do, let them race or change their positions so they are still fifth and sixth?”
After nine races, the French team is firmly in fifth place in the constructors’ championship, eight points behind McLaren F1 and six ahead of Alfa Romeo.
