"All the others did not do better"- Lewis Hamilton only F1 driver to match Fernando Alonso's 'level' as teammate, claims Esteban Ocon

Esteban Ocon is in his fifth full season in F1 and recently completed 100 F1 GPs. The Frenchman has been Fernando Alonso's partner at Alpine since the 2021 season. He has been consistent in his performances and has a contract with the French outfit till 2024.

With Alonso moving to Aston Martin, Ocon is now the reference driver for the team. When Alonso joined the team in 2021, many speculated that the Spaniard would overshadow his teammate but the Frenchman has kept his presence known within the team, consistently placing in the top 10 in every race. He has even won a Grand Prix, the 2021 F1 Hungarian GP, and has been on the podium too.

Speaking to Motorsports, Ocon compared all of Alonso's previous teammates, claiming that no one other than Lewis Hamilton has ever kept up with the Spaniard. He said:

"If I look at Fernando's career, his only teammate who has been up to his level is Lewis, everyone else has not done better than me. Personally, I feel that I'm doing a good job, yes, it's a bit strange sometimes to see that on the outside there are those who perceive a little differently."

Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton were teammates at McLaren during the 2007 season. It was the latter's rookie season, having won the GP2 championship the previous season. Alonso was a two-time world champion for Renault and had agreed to join McLaren with the mindset that he was going to be the number one driver in the team.

From the start of the season, Hamilton displayed his legendary talent. He was on the podium in the first nine races, winning his first in his F1 career's sixth race. The 2007 season ended with both Alonso and Hamilton finishing level on points, both losing the championship to Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari by one point.

---

Fernando Alonso still has some years of F1 left in him

Fernando Alonso has been racing in F1 for a long time now, having debuted in 2001 with Minardi, before switching to Renault the following year as a test driver. He won the seat at Renault in 2003 and won the drivers' championship in 2005 and 2006 with the French team.

He is the only Spanish driver to have won an F1 championship. In his 21-year-long career, he has entered 352 races (349 starts) and won 32 of those.

With the announcement that he is switching to Aston Martin for the following season, his critics have wondered how long Alonso can still race competitively. The Spaniard turned 41 this year but has consistently placed in the top 10 this season. Before the 2022 F1 Italian GP, he was quoted as saying:

"I'm happy to be in Formula 1 for so many years, and with the two more coming, or whatever, however long I will be in Formula 1."

Fernando Alonso is under contract to race until at least the 2024 season. He wants to touch the 400 Grand Prix mark and that is an achievement not many drivers can boast about.