Esteban Ocon insists that in spite of his reputation for being hard to deal with, being around Fernando Alonso is extremely easy.
Alonso is a two-time World Champion, having won the 2005 and 2006 Titles with Renault. He left the sport in 2018, taking a two year hiatus. In those two years, the legendary driver competed in other racing ventures like IndyCar and Le Mans.
In 2021 however, he returned to the them with whom he won his Titles. Renault had been rebranded as Alpine, and his teammate was going to be Ocon. Upon his arrival to the team, Ocon revealed how others warned him about his new teammates presence. However, it didn’t turn out to be true in his case.
During the latest episode of Beyond the Grid , Ocon talks about how Alonso surprised him. Despite his reputation, he describes the Spaniard as one of the most fun people to be around.
“When he joined, I realized we have a lot in common,” he said. “We both like racing more than anything else here. He’s proving it by what he does. He won two World Titles and won some of the biggest races in the world, but still came back to Formula 1. He’s still as fast as he was!”
Everything Fernando Alonso does is for racing, says Esteban Ocon
Ocon went on to say that everything Alonso does is for racing. It’s a passion for which that exceeds anything else he desires, and it’s something else he finds in common between the two.
“All of his life is about racing,” the 25-year old continues. “Everything that he does is about racing. It can sound a bit boring like that, we don’t have much outside interest apart from that.”
Ocon was then asked if he could have a laugh around the two-time World Champion. “Yeah! He’s a very funny guy,” Ocon replied. “We have lots of great banter together. I am very happy to be his teammate, it’s an honor.”
The host of the podcast then recalls something former Red Bull driver Mark Webber said. The Australian was racing Alonso wheel to wheel around Eau Rouge back in 2011. In spite of it being one of the most dangerous corners in F1, Webber said, “He’s the only guy you can completely trust (to do that with).”
Ocon weighed in on this comment saying that his battles with Alonso are extremely clean, and that Alpine trusts the two to race each other clean and proper. He adds a remark stating that Alonso is a fairer racing driver than his former teammate Sergio Perez.
