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Alpine F1 driver Esteban Ocon has revealed his relationship with Fernando Alonso as a teammate is not as difficult as he thought it would be before he joined the team. The Frenchman described the nature of his relationship with Alonso and the privilege he has had working with the double world champion.
Speaking to the media after the season finale, Ocon described his first impressions of Fernando Alonso and said:
“I heard a lot of that for sure, a lot of people said Fernando was very difficult to work with, that he had a reputation for breaking team-mates and all that. In the end it wasn’t [difficult to work with him]. We just had a fantastic collaboration all together. For sure he’s a hell of a racer, he’s extremely, extremely fast, the fastest team-mate I’ve had for a while. I was very happy to work alongside him.”
According to Ocon, he could not have won the Hungarian GP had Alonso not defended him against a charging Lewis Hamilton for six laps in the race. Similarly, the Frenchman returned the favor in Qatar, where the Spaniard clinched a podium.
Fernando Alonso was known to outperform his teammates to a large extent. In the 2021 season, although Ocon had the win, the double champion still finished seven points ahead of him by the end of the season.
Fernando Alonso will undergo jaw surgery over the winter break
Fernando Alonso’s bike accident in 2021 resulted in complex jaw injuries for the Alpine driver. The Alpine double champion recently confirmed that he will undergo a second surgery over the winter break to remove the metal plates fixed in his jaw from the previous one.
Confirming his second surgery, Fernando Alonso said:
"This January I will have to remove the plates from [my] face so I will have two weeks in January off but probably I had those off anyway even without the surgery because it’s just time to relax."
The Spaniard confirmed he will return prepared and ready for the 2022 season, where a new era awaits the sport with new cars, new regulations, and a new champion to compete against.
