Ralf Schumacher found Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon’s duel at the Saudi Arabian GP ‘irritating’ and felt that they ruined their own race.
One of the highlights of the race in Jeddah last weekend was Ocon and Alonso’s battle in the opening laps. The two Alpine drivers aggressively tried overtaking each other in the opening few laps.
It provided F1 fans with scintillating racing action, and there wasn’t any ill-feeling between the drivers post race. During the battle, Alpine’s team principal Otmar Szafnauer insisted that they didn’t issue any team orders.
The French team allowed their drivers to race each other, in what is a very race occurrence in F1. Teams are generally apprehensive about letting their drivers aggressively defend/attack each other during a race.
After the race, both Ocon and Alonso said that they thoroughly enjoyed the racing. The former went on to say that it reminded him of his karting days, when overtaking was such a huge part of their growth.
One person who wasn’t impressed with the display was former F1 driver and Sky Sports Germany pundit, Ralf Schumacher.
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Alpine showed poor team management with Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon, says Schumacher
There was plenty of nervy moments during the two drivers’ tussle under the lights. In several instances, they came very close to crashing with each other, in what would have been a dangerous outcome.
Thankfully, their experience behind the wheel meant that a crash was avoided, but Schumacher labels this escape as lucky. The German feels that Szafnauer as a team principal, must handle the situation better.
“What irritated me in Jeddah was what Alpine did,” the former Williams driver said. “With the internal duel between Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon, they ruined the race for themselves.
“I didn’t understand Otmar Szafnauer there, even though he is new to the team and Alonso certainly plays a big role in the team. Ocon drove a bit like a tarantula.”
“From the team’s point of view, it was badly managed because not only could the drivers drive into each other, but the fight also allowed the competition to come up from behind and both drivers wrecked their tyres,” he added.
Going into the Australian GP, Alpine are fourth in the Constructors’ standings, behind Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes.
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