Ocon: Reynolds and fellow investors 'a great asset' for Alpine

Esteban Ocon believes that Alpine investor Ryan Reynolds and his associates will be "a great asset" for the Enstone squad that will help the team push forward.

Earlier this week, Alpine announced that a consortium of American investors, that included Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds, Rob McElhenney and Michael B. Jordan, had acquired a 24% stake in the F1 team for €200 million.

Ocon, who touched base with Reynolds – the star of Marvel's Deadpool movie franchise - immediately after the announcement, said the investment group's commitment to Alpine was "fantastic" news the French outfit.

"I think it's fantastic," he said in Austria on Thursday. "I was extremely lucky to be able to chat on Tuesday with Ryan. So we exchanged a couple of WhatsApp [messages] together.

"I was in the simulator. And I usually take my phone just to take notes from all the runs and to have that on the record, but that time I allowed myself to send a little picture to Ryan saying, ‘I'm live from the simulator. This is the view.’ And he liked that.

• Read also: Rossi details US investors' contribution to Alpine's F1 plans

"I said welcome to the team to him and straight away he said, ‘Hi Esteban I'm very much forward to learn from you and to meet you.’

"And he sent me his phone number, his email address and we then texted on WhatsApp, so really good."

Reynolds and McElhenny are the very successful owners of Wrexham Football Club, and Ocon believes that the pair's brilliant track record with the Welsh club bodes well for its involvement with Alpine.

"I think all what Ryan has done recently with his company has been extremely successful," he said.

"There hasn't been any failure that I know. So yeah, I think he's a very good asset, him and his team behind our team.

"As a whole all the investors, in general, they're going to bring their expertise into the team, and it really shows the dedication of the team to push forward on every aspect," added Ocon.

"Obviously that's not going to help on the performance of the car itself, but on every other aspect that we can improve, we are going to have these investors expertise where they excel, basically."

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