Alonso bites at Alpine after Ocon clash: “It’s over, finally!”

Alonso was hit with a five-second time penalty and two penalty points after clattering into Ocon during Saturday’s race, before they finished in a woeful 15th and 18th respectively.

Aston Martin-bound Alonso insisted he had not spoken to Ocon about the incident: “No, I don’t need to. One more race [after Sunday] then it’s over, finally!”

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The two-time world champion referred to other moments this season where his competitiveness with Ocon almost boiled over: “I was close to the wall in Jeddah and in Budapest. Now, on Turn 4. It’s the way these things are.

“Sometimes it is very competitive inside a team.”

Ocon said: “Unfortunate for the team, what happened.

“We were in a good position but now we’re at the back. So it will be important to work together.

“It was unfortunate what happened. I was trying to attack the McLaren. Fernando came out of nowhere from the outside, so we touched.

“From there, my race was pretty much over.

“I am quite calm. If he isn’t? He will be tomorrow.”

Their partnership will end at the conclusion of this season - Alonso will be in the F1 2023 driver line-up for Aston Martin, where he will partner Lance Stroll (who he also made contact with last month in Texas).

Alpine will partner Ocon with Pierre Gasly - the Frenchmen were childhood friends who have occasionally have a strained relationship.

Alonso said about Saturday’s sprint in Brazil: “Far from ideal when you touch on the first lap in a sprint race because it’s too short to come back without a Safety Car.

“On the positive side, the pace was very good today. Close to the leaders, actually.

“We could recover a few places. With this pace we can score points.”

Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer said: “We are extremely disappointed with today’s sprint qualifying result, which has put us in a worse position on the grid for tomorrow’s main race.

“We are in a very tight and competitive championship fight for fourth place in the constructors’ championship; an objective for which over 1,000 staff are tirelessly working and striving towards. Frankly, both Esteban and Fernando must do a better job to compliment the fantastic efforts of everyone in the team by avoiding on-track incidents and compromising the entire team’s performance.

“Today, both drivers have let the team down. I expect more from them tomorrow where we must do everything we can to recover some points from the weekend for the championship.”

Ocon is eighth in the F1 standings, Alonso is ninth.