Esteban Ocon had a wheel-to-wheel battle with his Alpine teammate, Fernando Alonso, in Jeddah and he said that he enjoyed the battle.
Alpine drivers Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso started the race in Jeddah from fifth and seventh as they were divided by George Russell’s Mercedes in sixth.
But Russell made a move against Ocon and he fell back to have an intense battle with Alonso. The pair switched for the lead place several times in the early laps of the race. However, the Spaniard eventually took Ocon’s position.
The French driver lost a place to Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas. Later in the race, Alonso retired after his car lost drive. Ocon held the sixth position to the end of the race after a battle with McLaren’s Lando Norris.
In Bahrain, Alpine had clarified that the drivers would be allowed to race each other and as a result, Ocon enjoyed racing his Alonso.
He said, “It was a lot of fun. Good racing with Lando, good racing with Fernando, with Valtteri. It’s a completely different philosophy now racing with these cars, it’s pretty much like a go-kart race.”
“And fighting with Fernando very closely, we were very close in all sessions this weekend, in qualifying, there was less than a tenth separating us. So it’s going to be close all year. But that’s pushing the team performance up.”
Furthermore, talking about how they allowed the rivals to catch up with their personal battle, the French driver said, “I think of course when you fight, same as in go-karts, you lose time, it’s normal.”
Also Read: Ferrari boss furious over Max Verstappen’s unsafe release under safety car in Jeddah
Fernando Alonso is like a good wine, matured with age
Moreover, Ocon said that it is always a privilege to race against Fernando, it makes him smile. The Frenchman appreciated the qualities of the two-time world champion.
Ocon admitted that the Spaniard is great on racecraft, he is extremely fast. “The legend himself, fighting, it’s always a privilege. It’s good that we race so close. And it’s good that we can push the team forward.”
“I think he didn’t lose any speed also from when he was fighting with Lewis [Hamilton] back in 2007, I think. He’s like a good wine, he matured with age,” he added.
Though, Alonso said that he had to be careful while fighting the 25-year-old. The Spaniard explained that both the drivers know that they can race all they want but not touch each other so they made sure that it doesn’t happen.
Alonso said that in Bahrain they had different strategies but the same was not the case in Jeddah. However, for some reason, Alonso felt that his car was much faster than his teammate and therefore he was able to overtake.
“With Kevin, we had a good battle as well, Bottas was very fast, so we had to defend quite strong with Bottas. So yeah, good fights. I think this track obviously with the three consecutive DRS zones gives you that chance,” the 40-year-old said.
“I felt that my car was in the window, working a little bit better today, so I had the opportunity to overtake and pull away a little bit.”
“And the main threat as I said was Bottas. He was fast today, and it was not easy to keep him behind,” he further added.
Also Read: Lewis Hamilton flags concern after his Mercedes couldn’t overtake Kevin Magnussen’s Haas in Jeddah
