Fernando Alonso has not been afraid to share his frustration with Alpine in recent weeks, as the Spaniard gears up for his move to Aston Martin next year.
The two-time world champion has made subtle digs at the team, suggesting that not only does his car break down way too often, which is true, but that the team show favouritism to his teammate Esteban Ocon.
Ocon has hit back at these claims to remind Alonso of all the times his car has faced issues this year, dismissing any claims that he has been any better off than his teammate.
The pair have clashed at times this season as the relationship between the Alpine driver pairing has begun to deteriorate, but it now seems to have boiled over in Brazil.
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In the early stages of the sprint race in Sao Paulo, Ocon and Alonso came together while battling for position, with the Frenchman making contact with his teammate which caused Alonso to lose his front wing.
This incident could have ruined Alonso’s race as he was forced to pit for a new front wing and a change of tyres, making him the only driver to be forced to make a pitstop and therefore losing around half a minute of time.
The Spaniard showed his class however as he recovered to eventually finish above his teammate, but Alonso was very frustrated with Ocon’s actions, making that very clear over the team radio.
“I lost the front wing, thanks to our friend,” he said when reporting the damage to his race engineer.
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Ocon, who will instead be paired with Pierre Gasly next season, controversially escaped a penalty for the coming together, despite Lance Stroll being penalised for an incident with his teammate that was not too dissimilar.
The Frenchman’s car was spotted on fire after the session, leaving the Alpine mechanics an unexpected nights work to get their car ready for the race on Sunday.
Alpine will be hoping that their drivers can put aside their differences, at least for the final two races of the season, after McLaren closed the gap in the championship to only five points following Lando Norris’s seventh place sprint finish, which this year grants the driver with two points.