Alonso snarls at Alpine, team boss Szafnauer hits back a few days later

At the presentation of Aston Martin's AMR23, Fernando Alonso shared a sneer at former employer Alpine. The French formation was said to have been satisfied too quickly and at Aston Martin there is a completely different, better culture. Alpine team boss Otmar Szafnauer hit back at the two-time world champion.

Last week, Alonso told GPblog and others: "There is a hunger for success here. It is very different from other teams I have been to, which might have been successful in the past and were in a comfortable position. If they finished fourth, they were happy to be fourth; if they finished fifth, fifth was fine ... it was celebrated that they came seventh. Here there is no celebration until we win and that makes the project very attractive."

Alonso himself was 'just as happy'

Szafnauer was quoted by Marca confronted with Alonso's remarks. The 58-year-old top man remains calm himself and does not feel the need to respond fiercely to him. However, he is happy to explain that what the Spaniard says is not quite 100 per cent correct. Indeed, according to Szafnauer, Alonso was also happy when Alpine managed to keep McLaren's team behind in the constructors' championship.

"If you look back, he was as happy as anyone in the team. When you are fifth the year before and your ambition is to finish fourth a season later, it is not easy. We had to beat McLaren. I've been to Woking, and there you walk past a huge trophy cabinet. They are not easy to beat. So I think you have to celebrate those successes. I don't think it's a shame to say, 'We did it and we are going to celebrate'," Szafnauer said.