Otmar Szafnauer has recalled an amusing comment made by Jeremy Clarkson following Alpine’s podium at the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix.
Szafnauer, Team Principal of Alpine during the 2023 season, oversaw Alpine during a period where it lacked competitiveness, cut adrift from the frontrunners but at the head of the midfield.
The team had a high point in Monaco, when Esteban Ocon raced to third, comfortably beating both Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.
It was a surprise result given Alpine’s form up to that point in 2023, with the team having scored points only sporadically and Ocon himself having registered just two points finishes across the opening five rounds of the season.
Prior to the race, Clarkson, whose farm, Diddly Squat, is located near the Alpine factory at Enstone, promised each team member one of his Hawkstone beers if they finished on the podium.
The pledge came via a tweet posted midway through the Monaco Grand Prix itself, with Clarkson writing that he would buy the entire team a pint if they managed a podium finish that day.
Few expected the pledge to be tested, but Ocon held firm under pressure from Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz to secure third behind race winner Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso in second.
Recalling Clarkson fulfilling his promise, Szafnauer revealed it became an event at Enstone.
“Esteban finished on the podium in Monaco, and during that race, Jeremy Clarkson said, “If my neighbours finish on the podium, I’m going to give each one of them a six-pack of Hawkstone,” recounted Szafnauer on the High Performance Racing podcast.
“So sure enough, he came with the Lamborghini [tractor], and behind the Lamborghini was a massive farm trailer with hay and full of beer. Everyone got a six-pack of beer.
“I was standing next to Jeremy, and Esteban had the mic, and we had speakers, and everybody was there outside.
True to his word, Clarkson arrived at the Enstone factory alongside Diddly Squat co-star Kaleb Cooper, ensuring all 875 members of Alpine’s staff received their share of the beer, brewed just a short drive away from the team’s Oxfordshire base.
Jeremy Clarkson makes French jibe
Szafnauer then confirmed a humorous exchange between Ocon and Clarkson, after Ocon thanked the TV personality for the gesture.
“It was in the summer. Esteban said, “I’d really like to thank Jeremy Clarkson not just for giving us each a six-pack of beer, but for being true to his word.”
“And he’s [Clarkson] standing next to me, and you know what he yelled? “That’s ’cause I’m not French!”
The exchange capped off what became one of the more memorable off-track moments of Alpine’s 2023 campaign, with Clarkson’s association with the team continuing well beyond that single Monaco bet, having become something of an unofficial local supporter of the Enstone-based outfit given his farm’s proximity to the factory.
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