Ocon disagrees with Alonso's criticism: 'We both had problems'

Esteban Ocon disagrees with Fernando Alonso's criticism of Alpine after the Mexican Grand Prix. Alonso claimed that only his car continuously encounters technical problems, but Ocon contradicts that claim.

Alonso's stoppage was his third in five races. The Spaniard had five stoppages so far in the current Formula 1 season, compared to two for his teammate. However, Ocon does not think his teammate has had more reliability problems than him.

Ocon explains that he also ran into bad luck himself in Imola, SIlverstone and Singapore. "I keep count too. We both had problems," the Frenchman tells Motorsport-Total.com. Both Alpine drivers are fairly similar in the number of parts used, but Alonso has used one more turbocharger and MGU-H. Ocon, in turn, has used one more exhaust than his teammate.

Team boss Otmar Szafnauer thinks Alonso's breakdowns are no more than that: bad luck. He stresses that such things can happen, but understands his driver's annoyance. As an example, he cites his time at Honda, where Takuma Sato faced engine problems far more often than his then teammate Jenson Button.

"There, the same question was asked, but we couldn't find an answer. We always wondered: is Takuma driving so much different from Jenson? I think it was just bad luck," Szafnauer states.