Esteban Ocon confident of fighting Max Verstappen for the F1 title, but on one condition

Alpine driver Esteban Ocon mentioned that he can beat Max Verstappen in the fight for the world championship if he has the same car.

The Dutch driver is on his way to becoming a three-time world champion, given his ominous start to the 2023 season. Ocon has been a standout performer for the French team this season, getting on the podium at the prestigious Monaco GP a couple of weeks ago.

Speaking with DAZN, Ocon said:

"Sure. I see myself fighting with Verstappen fighting for a World Cup if we had the same car. Now Max is doing an incredible job, he is dominating with Red Bull. But I don't care who the driver was. I want to fight for the championship. I've always believed in myself. We have a long road ahead of us, but my goal is to be a world champion, nothing more," [Translated by Google]

He added:

“The truth is I don't want people to think I'm a tough guy because I'm a nice guy out there. But my way of riding is hard. It's probably true, but I'm happy with it.

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Max Verstappen shares his feelings after equalling Ayrton Senna's record

F1 Grand Prix of Brazil - Practice & Qualifying

After winning for the second time in Montreal on Sunday, Max Verstappen tied himself with Ayrton Senna with 41 wins in F1.

In his post-race press conference, Max Verstappen said:

"Yeah, I mean, I hate to compare different generations. From my side, the only thing I can say is that when I was a little kid driving in go-karting, I was dreaming about being a Formula 1 driver and I would have never imagined winning 41 Grands Prix. So of course, to tie with Ayrton is something incredible. And of course, I'm proud of that, but of course, I hope it's not stopping here. You know, I hope that we can keep on winning more races.

He also commented on Red Bull winning 100 races in the sport, saying:

"Yeah, I mean, I've won 41 of them! But, yeah, we'll talk about maybe a new contract because of that! No, honestly, it's a great achievement for the team. We knew that this was the first opportunity, of course, to do so. And I'm happy that's done. We won 100. But again, I hope we win more than 100. So the new target is 200.

It would be interesting to see how many more wins Max Verstappen can rack up before his contract with Red Bull runs out in 2028.