Alonso doesn't play politics with Alpine: "They work well together".

After a rough start the Alpine team is now in fifth place in the Constructors' Championship. Not in the least because Esteban Ocon is able to keep up with Fernando Alonso, something that wasn't given to many former teammates of the experienced Spaniard. The Frenchman even won a Grand Prix for Alpine in Budapest.

Alpine's Executive Director Marcin Budkowski has also noticed this, and he is singing the praises of his drivers. "Fernando and Esteban are the closest drivers on the grid this year, which shows how strong our driver duo is at the moment. Both drivers are managing to score points consistently," Budkowski told Motorsportweek.com.

Although Alonso is often accused of having bad relations with his teammates and playing quite a few political games, that is not the case at all now, according to Budkowski. "They work well together and we enjoy their ability to push each other and the team forward. The races are hard and fair, and we aim to continue scoring points regularly with both of them."

Nevertheless, the French stable's performance in Italy was somewhat disappointing, although the team did manage to score important points. "We believe Sochi is a circuit that should allow us to return to a better competitive level than Monza, which we knew was not a circuit suited to the characteristics of our car. It means that we have scored at the last thirteen races and we know that this level of consistency will be important in our fight for fifth place in the constructors' championship."