#F1 2020 BRAZIL SETUP DRIVERS#
#F1 2020 BRAZIL SETUP DRIVER#
#F1 2020 BRAZIL SETUP PROFESSIONAL#

Read more: Daniel Ricciardo deserves better than a push, paid leave, or worse…acrimonyĪ complete suspension of ego, not something that comes naturally to a racing driver, is required to survive and thrive as Alonso’s team-mate.

That, perhaps, reveals the secret to co-existing with Alonso and explains why Button, someone completely comfortable in his own skin, measured up well against him, albeit in a woefully uncompetitive McLaren-Honda. There were some who seemed more inclined to count it as Alonso’s 33rd F1 win rather than Ocon’s first, yet there was Esteban – without a hint of this-is-meant-to-be-my-day sourness – playing along in recognising Fernando’s role in his success. Ocon was the winner at the end of one of those long and dramatic F1 days, but it was Alonso who received most of the praise for holding up Hamilton’s recovering Mercedes – the old warrior wrestling with the big bad wolf and delaying it for just long enough for his team-mate to escape to victory. Yet barring a spectacular collapse in the second half of this season, only Lewis Hamilton (2007) and Jenson Button (2015/16) will have emerged from their time alongside Alonso with their reputations more enhanced, or less damaged, than Ocon.Įven as he has entered his fifth decade, Alonso’s peaks have been higher than Ocon’s and only he, perhaps, could have magicked a podium out of nowhere in Qatar last year and qualified an Alpine on the front row in Canada this season.īut those feats say far more about Alonso and his ability to stop the clock than Ocon who, through a combination of pace, intelligence and maturity, has still found a way to make life at Alpine work for him.įor an indication of Alonso’s overpowering presence and his gravitational pull within a team, you only need to refer to the post-race reaction in Hungary last year.

#F1 2020 BRAZIL SETUP PROFESSIONAL#

The ongoing debate over whether Esteban Ocon can be relied upon to lead the team into next year and beyond is yet another example of his body of work over the last couple of seasons going criminally undervalued.Īlonso’s tendency to torture his team-mates over the years – rubbing their faces into the dirt and tearing them limb from limb, stripping away layers of professional pride, dignity and self-worth – has made the job of being his team-mate among the hardest in F1.

#F1 2020 BRAZIL SETUP DRIVER#

Viewed from that perspective, maybe this will prove to be a moment of enlightenment for Alpine, shaking them into finally taking F1 with the seriousness of a team – like Aston Martin and McLaren, almost certain to be Piastri’s destination – determined to reach the front.Īlonso and Piastri will leave a gaping hole, no doubt, but Alpine can count themselves fortunate they have a third exceptionally gifted driver and one who remains completely committed to the cause.

#F1 2020 BRAZIL SETUP DRIVERS#

What is it about the current incarnation of this once proud team that leaves drivers – stretching back to Daniel Ricciardo’s decision to abandon a long-term project with Renault after a single season – cold? “Was it something we said?” they might be asking themselves, still aghast, within the walls of Enstone. With two drivers at the opposite end of their careers in agreement Alpine is not the place to be, theirs is the kind of double whammy, total rejection that could shame a board into questioning – for better or worse – their commitment to Formula 1. That, though, is the scarcely believable situation in which Alpine found themselves at the start of this month, stunned by Fernando Alonso’s move to Aston Martin before being pied by Oscar Piastri, who intimated he would not be occupying the seat the team had already announced was his for 2023. To lose two in less than 48 hours looks like carelessness. Hamilton received a post-race, 5-second time penalty for causing a collision.To lose one prodigiously talented racing driver may be regarded as misfortune. Note - Hulkenberg received a post-race, 5-second time penalty for overtaking under safety-car conditions.

F1 2020 brazil setup