Fernando Alonso he is a weekend and a half away from finally leaving Alpine, a team that has not allowed him to meet the expectations of a hobby that created ‘El Plan’ and radicalized itself to support the Asturian in this second youth after his return in 2021. This is demonstrated by the insults and continuous hate messages that there is in the mentions to the gala team.
It’s not the first time it’s happened, but after the sprint of the Brazilian GP, from the team’s communication department they sent a message warning of what had happened. “Whatever happens on the track, there is absolutely no excuse for the hateful, abusive or toxic comments directed towards our drivers, team members, fans or anyone on the networks, “they expressed.
“From all the feedback we’ve received on our social media channels during and after today’s sprint, we have received 882 toxic comments of which 162 were severely serious. This is totally unacceptable.”
“What we have seen today is not, unfortunately, an isolated event. We continue to see hate and discrimination online, and as a team we will not tolerate it. We will take action against individuals or groups that produce or distribute messages that contain or promote abuse to our drivers, team members and fans, “they warn.
The sanction of the controversy and the explanations of the team
The reason for this harassment of the Alpine team is the sanction that was imposed on Fernando Alonso for his controversial encounter with his own partner, Esteban Ocon. The French and the Spanish ran into each other twice on the first lap: first at turn 4 of the circuit (when the former threw the latter off the track, and the latter suffered a whiplash in his car that ended up colliding with his partner’s) and then on the straight, where Alonso, trying to overtake Ocon, touched him from behind and broke his wing.
The action was resolved with a punishment of 5 seconds to Spanish, with which he fell from 15th to 18th place in which he will start this Sunday in the race, one position behind Ocon. Alonso’s anger at the time was clear.
It is not the first time that Ocon has shown himself to be a difficult partner to live with. Alonso himself recalled that this is the third time she defended herself against him with improper aggressiveness between two drivers from the same team. “That’s what usually happens when we go out together. Last year it happened several times. This year he almost took me against the wall in Jeddah, Hungary and now here, ”recalled the two-time Spanish champion.
«This year almost took me against the wall in Jeddah, Hungary and now here»
Fernando Alonso, on his partner Esteban Ocon
The reaction of Otmar Szafnauer, boss of the Alpine team and one of the first responsible for Alonso fleeing to Aston Martin, was to ask both Ocon and Alonso for a high-mindedness. “They must do a better job of complementing the fantastic efforts of everyone in the team, avoiding incidents on track and compromising everyone’s performance. On this occasion both pilots have disappointed us», he pointed out.
Alpine is at stake in the remaining two races. The difference with McLaren in the constructors’ World Championship classification it is only 5 points, so any detail could tip the scales for fourth place in the championship. There’s big money at stake.
