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Alpine determined not to let Alonso and Ocon rivalry get out of hand
- GPblog.com
Despite the return of Fernando Alonso, Alpine was perhaps the most colourless team at the Bahrain Grand Prix. It wasn't good what they showed, but it wasn't dramatically bad either. And the rivalry between Alonso and Esteban Ocon wasn't exactly sparkling on the screen either. Alaim Prost hopes to keep it that way.
"It's very important that the drivers work together and don't play dangerous games," the Alpine ambassador told Le Figaro. Prost knows all about this from his time as a teammate of Ayrton Senna. In 1989 it led to a collision on the track at Suzuka, the decisive moment in the fight for the world title. In that case it did not cost the team much, McLaren was too dominant at the time.
Alonso and Ocon have a reputation
Prost's current drivers, however, have a reputation for being able to go wrong for the team. Alonso has been known to take control of a team throughout his career and when he failed to do so at McLaren in 2007, it immediately led to a row. Esteban Ocon has had his own adventures with Sergio Perez at Force India/Racing Point.
So the duo at Alpine is a potentially dangerous mix, which is why Prost is wary despite the current peace. "The dynamics and the atmosphere in a team are extremely important for performance, so you have to be very vigilant to make sure that there is no degradation, first and foremost among the drivers."