"It's always a privilege" - Esteban Ocon describes on-track battle with Fernando Alonso in F1 Saudi Arabian GP

Ahead of the 2021 Australian Grand Prix, Esteban Ocon commented on his intense on-track battle with teammate Fernando Alonso from the thrilling Saudi Arabian Grand Prix two weeks ago.

In a press conference, Ocon revealed that these battles are "good fun" and that he hopes for a similarly close wheel-to-wheel duel in the future. On being asked if he enjoyed the joust with Alonso, the Frenchman said:

“I did. I did enjoy a lot, thank you. Yeah, it was fun to race with Fernando. It’s always a privilege anyway to share the track with him, and to be in the same team as him and yeah, I mean, as he said, we are learning with these new cars how to race and how close it is at the moment in the field when you are in a battle. So yeah, it was good fun. It’s been a good two races for me, to start the year with, so hopefully we can continue like this.”

In the 2021 season, the two Alpine drivers shared one of the most cordial relationships on track. They constantly pushed each other to the limit and did everything they could to maximize the team's results. This resulted in a strong P5 finish for the French team.

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Esteban Ocon shares expectations from the 2021 Australian Grand Prix

Esteban Ocon currently stands sixth in the drivers' standings and had consecutive points finishes in the first two races of the season with a P6 and P7 respectively.

Reflecting on the recent race weekend and whether or not it met his expectations, the Frenchman said:

“I mean, we didn’t know where we were going to be, exactly but it’s very tight at the moment in the midfield where we are. We qualified really well in Jeddah. We had a really good qualifying performance but in the race, you know, it was not as strong.”

Ocon then pointed out the two main teams he believes could be a potential threat to Alpine going ahead, saying:

“I think the Alfa [Romeo] and the Haas were very fast in that race. So, we’re going to need to keep working, to create a little bit more of a gap to them, because at the moment they are a bit faster. And yeah, it’s going be a long one ‘til the end of the year to the race development basically.”

Esteban Ocon secured his first F1 race win at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix and will be chasing another win in the 2022 season.