The CEO of Alpine clarifies the statements on “second driver” Ocon
Laurent Rossi revisited remarks made in 2021 regarding Esteban Ocon's arrival in the French team. The CEO of Alpine had stated that the French driver "may not be a guaranteed world champion, but at least an excellent second driver."
After a forced sabbatical year, Esteban Ocon managed to regain a regular seat at Alpine (formerly known as Renault) in 2020. In search of stability, the brand’s CEO Laurent Rossi then had him sign a three-year contract in 2021.
There is no mystery about the fact that I quickly tried to make sure that Esteban [Ocon] felt comfortable within the team,” Rossi indicates, referring to the fact that the driver’s Formula 1 career has never been linear. “Before that, we would tell him, ‘that’s it, it’s over, it’s the end of the road with us and you have to find another job next year,'” the CEO adds.
In the meantime, according to the French boss, the appeal of the team based in Enstone was not at its highest. « To be honest, no one wanted to come to Alpine, let’s be clear, so he was the best driver we could have », the Frenchman confides.
« I have always said that Esteban was at least a very good second driver. Everyone has interpreted that in different ways », he continued.
Later on, he insisted on clarifying the exact nature of his remarks. According to him, he indicates that it is possible to have two drivers in a team without establishing a hierarchy between them.
But when I say that, it’s as if there were no driver one and driver two at Ferrari, but I’m almost certain that many people think there is a number two. There is no hierarchy at Mercedes, and to be honest, it’s difficult to know who is the number two. And I think Esteban, regardless of the person facing him, can be number one or number two, concluded Laurent Rossi.
