Esteban Ocon reflected on the time he shared with double-world champion Fernando Alonso as teammates at Alpine. He feels that there were some tense moments when they were sharing the track.
According to him, it isn't something that was solely the Frenchman's fault. They were both wrong somewhere.
"I think there were times when we were too close, but that was on both sides. At that time, I think we made some mistakes."
The two shared time as teammates after Alonso made his return to Formula 1 in the 2021 season. Alpine was the team that signed him, and though his first season with the team was fine with a podium in the Qatar Grand Prix, the second season was rather difficult.
The Spaniard faced issues with the car and its power unit throughout the season. Esteban Ocon and he shared tough moments here and there during many races. Even though the Frenchman is known to be a little tough with his teammates, he feels that it was from both sides and he wasn't completely to blame.
Nevertheless, he did mention that even though they shared battles often on track, it was helping the team somewhere, which was the result that everyone wanted.
"It was awesome to have him as a teammate. What happened on the track happened, but that doesn't change that we got results for the team."
Fernando Alonso moved to Aston Martin this season and things have been going amazing for him and the team. There have been only two occasions when he wasn't present on the podium. Rest, he has remained at the top.
Esteban Ocon believes he can battle with Max Verstappen in the same car
While Alonso has certainly made his presence at the top of the standings, Alpine has improved to an extent as well. Esteban Ocon made his way to his first podium since the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix at Monaco. He was able to finish P3, right behind Alonso earlier.
He recently dropped a huge claim about Max Verstappen. The latter has been the benchmark of performance this season. Winning seven of the nine races, his pace has been incredible in the RB19. Even his teammate, Sergio Perez, hasn't quite caught up to him. However, Ocon believes that it is something he could do.
Mentioning that he wants to fight for the F1 world championship, he stated that he has the ability to battle with Verstappen for race wins, provided he was racing at Red Bull.
"I see myself fighting with Verstappen, fighting for a world championship if we had the same car."
While this claim sounds big enough for anyone to follow up right now, Esteban Ocon certainly believes he can achieve it. He also wishes to fight for the world championship. However, currently, he has to battle to be in the top 5 constructors.