“I’ve Beaten Fernando”: Adamant Esteban Ocon Proud to Retain His Racing Style With One Bold Claim

Esteban Ocon knows no mercy. He is arguably one of the most ruthless drivers on the grid. But at a place where you only have 20 spots and you are fighting to beat your teammate and the rest of the grid, is there another way to go about it? The Frenchman certainly doesn’t think so. Instead, he is proud of his race craft, which led him to beat the double world champion, Fernando Alonso.

The ex-Alpine lineup finished in 8th and 9th place in the 2022 championship standings, but it was Ocon who beat his teammate, Alonso, by an 11-point margin. Esteban Ocon states that it was his racing style that led him to achieve this feat and had in the past even propelled him to win titles and also reach Formula 1. The veteran at Alpine even went on to state that he will continue driving like this alongside his new teammate, Pierre Gasly, as well and is ready to fight anyone and everyone on track.

As quoted by racefans.net, Ocon said, “I mean, I’m a racing driver. I’m competing to beat everyone. That’s how I’ve been racing my whole life and that’s how I’ve succeeded and won titles in the past. And that’s how, in the end, I’ve beaten Fernando as well, racing the way I want to race.”

He further added, For me, the important [thing] is obviously to score the points, work together with Pierre. That’s very important. But I want to fight anyone. And I believe I can fight anyone. I’m happy to be racing that way and that’s how I’ve raced my whole life..”

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From reminding the world that he, in fact, did beat Alonso being in the same machine, he went ahead to even defend his team against the accusations made by Alonso.

Rebutting Alonso’s claim, Esteban Ocon reminds him of Hungary

Fernando gave a boot to his ex-team to become the unexpected entrant of the 2022 silly season. While he now has reportedly found his match, he still cannot resist making allegations against his ex-team. During the launch event of AMR23, he said his ex-employers were even okay with finishing fourth. This statement has now irked the French team, making the people from the clan hit back at the Spaniard. The latest to chime in is his ex-teammate.

When questioned about Fernando’s complacency allegations, Ocon said, “No, we didn’t celebrate, we were happy obviously because this is what we are fighting for at the time, with the performance that we had and obviously, no what we have in sight is climbing up, getting on podiums, getting wins like we had in Hungary.”

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With an all-French lineup set to race for the French team, do you think the drivers can work together or will Ocon’s racing style be a barrier to harmony?