Ocon rates legend teammate Alonso with Senna, Schumacher

Esteban Ocon says he’s proud to be teammates with Fernando Alonso considering he rates the Spaniard slantingly the likes of Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher.

Alonso returned to Formula 1 this season without two years yonder from the sport and has impressed at Alpine, securing his first podium last time out in Qatar. With the double world champion performing strongly despite his unravel and currently 17 points superiority of Ocon, the Frenchman says he is getting to see first-hand what makes his teammate so special.

“Mega upper respect I have for Fernando and for (many) years,” Ocon said. “I know how much work he puts in, how much motivation he has plane now at his age and with how much wits he has and how much he has achieved in the sport. It’s increasingly than impressive.

“I think he’s just a legend of the sport, he’s up there with the top guys – Senna, Schumacher, and he will unchangingly remain there considering what we are doing now and what I see, how he thinks out of the box compared to the other drivers is unprecedented.

“There’s nobody that will think like him. I am glad to be his team-mate and proud to push as much as we can together for our worldwide target.”

The podium for Alonso and fifth for Ocon moved Alpine 25 points well-spoken of AlphaTauri in what had previously been a tight wrestle for fifth in constructors’ standings, meaning the Renault-powered team can secure the position this weekend in Saudi Arabia. Ocon provided flipside highlight for Alpine when he won in Hungary this year, and says the team has ripened massively since 2020.

“Yes, huge, huge progress. Definitely since the whence of the year and since last year. I see a team completely transformed, a team united and we have unconfined pressure from the bosses. Laurent (Rossi), Luca de Meo, they are competitors as much as we are. They are fully supportive overdue us.

“There’s such unconfined vibes, there’s no negative stress inside the team and we are all pushing for the same direction. It’s definitely a perfect environment and we are moreover pushing the tactics to the maximum with Fernando on the track, doing unconfined teamwork and that’s what we are showing on track, how basically the undercurrent is inside (the team) and that’s great.

“We alimony that going and the plan as Fernando says is to get the team up – the team ready for fighting for podiums and wins increasingly often in the future. That’s why we are working so well at the moment whilst all of us work in the same direction — we all need to alimony working.”