Alpine’s relationship with Esteban Ocon has suffered another blow after both sides criticized the other over team orders late in the Canadian Grand Prix.
Ocon was running in eighth place with four laps to go, but was struggling due to what the team called “energy management issues,” which led to a decline in his performance and loss of position to Daniel Ricciardo. Teammate Pierre Gasly was right behind him and Alpine said he instructed Ocon to let Gasly pass at the start of lap 68 in order to challenge Ricciardo ahead.
Ocon gave Gasly one more lap, which the team explained was too little too late, as Ricciardo was able to clear two seconds and Gasly could only reduce the gap to 0.7 seconds in a full lap to the left. .
With Ocon crossing the line half a second ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, Alpine said it was too risky to ask drivers to switch positions again at the end of the race, but Ocon insisted he had played a team game and was not treated fairly in return. .
“No, I can’t explain it,” Ocon said. “As a driver I have always respected the instructions given and I did so again. I am a good person!
“I did my part, but the team honestly didn’t. It’s not fair in that race. So I was very disappointed with how things went. “I think there are many reasons, so I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt.”
Ocon said he did not understand Alpine’s first request to pass on Gasly. His first response was, “Forget it!” when he was told to do so over the team radio.
“no. “We were 2.5 seconds behind Daniel.” he said “In one lap, not even a Red Bull can close that gap. No, that doesn’t make sense. So either we don’t know what we’re doing or we don’t realize how far it is, or it’s something else. “It wasn’t the right decision.”
Ocon told Sky Sports that he always followed team orders despite the Monaco fallout when Alpine claimed Ocon ignored team instructions when trying to overtake Gasly and retired after making contact with his team-mate on the opening lap.
“I’m glad the team was able to score in both cars, but in that case the order would have to be reversed,” he said. “I was instructed by Pierre to go and catch Daniel, who was 2.5 seconds ahead of us after two and a half laps. So that call was nonsense.
“I did my part as a team player. I have always respected the instructions given to me. It’s always been that way and I’ve never done anything different in my career. “I did my part, not the team, and it’s really unfortunate.”
