Fernando Alonso was left frustrated and annoyed in Mexico as he was forced to retire from the race for the fifth time this season.
The Spaniard experienced engine issues that saw him slow down and drop down the order, before eventually having to stop the car all together, being met by a plume of smoke on the long run down to Turn 1.
The 41-year-old made the bold claim after the race that it is always Car #14 that is breaking down and stopping, insinuating that his teammate Esteban Ocon never experiences these issues, a statement which the Frenchman has denied.
“I broke the gearbox in Imola, I broke the car in Silverstone, I retired in Singapore. I can count them on as well my side. We’ve both had issues,” said Ocon in response to Alonso’s comments.
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“I’ve also changed six engines like him, obviously brought one today. We’re on the same number of engines.”
It was a bad weekend for Alpine, seeing the gap to McLaren behind them in the constructors’ championship cut to seven points, as the French team try to hang on to fourth place.
A stellar drive from Daniel Ricciardo combined with the Alonso retirement saw a swing in fortunes in the race for the team, but Ocon has now revealed that things could have been much worse, experiencing issues with his car also.
“I couldn’t really attack to the maximum. A lot to review for us,” he said.
“Hopefully we will come back stronger in the last two [races].
“The team said it was critical that I had to do a lot of seconds of lift and coast, and when you do so, obviously you don’t accelerate, so you lose a lot of lap time, especially on a track like that.
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“We’ve managed, we finished the race, which is the most important. But we’ve lost some important points today as a team,” he explained
“But we are happy with the strategy of the team to push the pace of the car in front of the reliability. That was always the aim of the team. Today was a bit unexpected, so something for us to understand.”
Ocon is now 11 points ahead of Alonso in the drivers’ championship, with the veteran now suggesting that he is fed up at Alpine, and is excited for the new challenge at Aston Martin next season.