Esteban Ocon was called many things by team-mate Fernando Alonso after the sprint race at the Brazilian Grand Prix; however, the Frenchman has maintained that he will “keep respect” for the 41-year-old “forever”.
The duo have had somewhat of an odd relationship this season, with Ocon having at times been far too physical whilst battling the double World Champion.
Last Saturday’s sprint race appeared to be another case of that, after the pair were involved in not one but two incidents with each other.
Both occurred on the opening lap, with Alonso having been forced wide at Turn Four by Ocon before the Spaniard hit the Frenchman down the start/finish straight.
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Alonso was slapped with a five-second time penalty and two penalty points as a result, whilst he also revealed that he can’t wait for his time with Ocon to be “finally” over.
The main race on Sunday was much more plain sailing for the French side, despite one issue; however, Ocon did reveal that the pair still haven’t spoken following their issues on Saturday.
“No, we didn’t speak,” Ocon told Motorsport.com.
Ocon is hopeful that the duo will talk “together”, but that what the Spaniard said wasn’t “too nice”.
“No, I mean, it was not too nice what he said in the media,” said Ocon.
“I always have a lot of respect for him. He’s a legend and I will keep respect for him forever.
“And, yeah, it doesn’t matter what he said to you guys. I prefer when we speak together.”
Following on from Alpine boss Otmar Szafnauer admitting that both drivers “let the team down” on Saturday, Ocon appeared to defy the team on Sunday in the closing stages.
Following a late Safety Car, Ocon was told to let Alonso past as he was considerably faster; however, Ocon refused to do so.
The French driver wanted to get past Sebastian Vettel before following the order from the team, which in fairness, he did.
Ocon believes the situation wasn’t translated “well” and that he by no means disobeyed his team, after insisting he wasn’t “going to fight” Alonso.
“I think it’s been not very well translated,” said Ocon.
“People thought I didn’t want to let Fernando past.
“I said, no, I don’t let him pass at the restart. I’m going to pass Seb. And then once the situation is settled, we will figure that out.
“I’m not going to fight. I’m going to let him go. And that’s what I did. I couldn’t have held him. He was very fast on the soft tyres. And obviously, there were points for the whole team to grab.
“So I knew I was in a situation and the team didn’t need to tell me what to do.”
Despite how Alpine’s weekend started, the side enjoyed the perfect outcome on Sunday, with Alonso finishing fifth and Ocon eighth.
With both McLaren’s retiring, Alpine now take a 19-point advantage over the Woking-based side into the season finale, in the battle for fourth in the Constructors’.
Ocon hailed the result as a “game-changer”, with Alpine now boasting a “big cushion”.
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“I’m super-happy for the team,” Ocon stated.
“In general, I think 14 points is a game-changer for us at this stage, there is only one race to go. And we go into Abu Dhabi with a big cushion.
“We can’t relax. Still we will have to push like crazy into the last round, but clearly going with some points ahead definitely gives us a little bit of pressure off.”