Esteban Ocon has fired back at Fernando Alonso's suggestion that reliability issues have mainly affected his side of the garage throughout the 2022 season. The Spaniard recorded his fifth DNF of the campaign so far at the Mexican Grand Prix, with his Alpine having suffered an engine failure. Teammate Ocon went on to finish the race in eighth place. After the event, Alonso voiced his frustrations over the number of mechanical issues he has suffered during the year. "It's just amazing that only one or two cars retire from every race, and it is always Car #14 which blew up five engines I think this year," the two-time World Champion told media, including RacingNews365.com . Following these remarks, Ocon was asked whether he could understand what Alonso was saying in terms of the problems seeming to affect him more than the Frenchman.
Ocon defends Alpine after Alonso comments
In response, Ocon pointed out that he too has experienced reliability concerns in 2022. "I broke the gearbox in Imola, I broke the car in Silverstone, I [had a] DNF in Singapore," Ocon explained. "I can count them as well on my side. I think we've both had issues." Despite the mechanical problems, Ocon has defended the team for focusing on speed above anything else. "We are happy with the strategy of the team, to push the pace of the car in front of the reliability," he added. "And that was always the aim of the team."
Mexican GP 'damage limitation' for Alpine
While Alonso lost out on a potential points finish in Mexico, Alpine have remained ahead of rivals McLaren in their Constructors' Championship battle for fourth place, though the gap now stands at just seven points. Ocon admits that the race was an exercise in "damage limitation" for the team. "Obviously [it was] good to score [points], but not a good result as a team," the driver commented. "We obviously lost Fernando and, on my side, I was managing a lot of cooling issues the whole way. That's mainly why we lost to Daniel [Ricciardo] in the end on the position. "He had a 10-second penalty, and I couldn't really attack to the maximum, so [there is] a lot to review for us. Hopefully we will come back stronger in the last two races."
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