Ocon: "Cyril Abiteboul's departure has hurt me"

It is a special winter for Esteban Ocon. All kinds of changes are taking place around him at the Alpine team. Except for the colour and name of the car, he is one of the few leaders of 2020 that remains at the team. 

Not least, of course, Fernando Alonso. For Ocon, a very special teammate. "I respect Fernando very much, it is also thanks to him that I am passionate about this sport. As a child I followed his battles with Schumacher, even though I cheered for Michael," he told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Ocon is going to miss Abiteboul

So he was not really an Alonso fan, but he says he gets on well with the Spaniard off the track. Whether that will be the case on track remains to be seen given his previous relationship with Sergio Perez. "I'm going to try to beat him, even though we're working for the good of the team," he said.

As well as a new teammate, Ocon also has a new team boss. He's a good guy, but he's going to miss his previous team boss. "The departure of Cyril Abiteboul hurt me. He carried the project for many years. I do think we are in good hands with Davide [Brivio]."