Esteban Ocon has his eyes set on becoming just the second driver to have ever beaten Fernando Alonso whilst competing in the same team, something which has only ever been done before in 2007.
In 2007, Alonso was beaten at McLaren by rookie team-mate Sir Lewis Hamilton by one point, with the double World Champion having finished above every other team-mate he’s ever had in his Formula 1 career.
In his first season at Alpine alongside Ocon, Alonso beat the Frenchman by just seven points; however, as it stands so far this season, the 41-year-old is somewhat coincidentally seven points behind Ocon.
Ocon has performed brilliantly this season, with the 26-year-old having taken the fight to Alonso on multiple occasions, most notably at Saudi Arabia and Hungary.
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Despite wanting to beat one another, the Alpine duo have proved to “have a good relationship”, something that’s been evident since the start of 2021.
Whilst their battles have been borderline over the limit at times, the pair have never spoken negatively about each other, with the respect they hold for one another being clear.
The duo only have six races left together, before the Spaniard departs for Aston Martin.
It’s highly unlikely that Ocon will have as good a relationship with his next team-mate, especially if its rival Pierre Gasly.
Ocon has performed valiantly alongside Alonso, who many thought would outperform the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix winner.
The French driver has spoken on his relationship with the Spaniard, who he hailed as “very, very fast”.
“It is a nice comparison what we started last year both in qualifying and in the race,” he said to the Italian edition of Motorsport.com.
“Fernando is very, very fast, I don’t think he has anything to prove to anyone, and to those who say ‘who knows how much you learned with Fernando’ I answer ‘of course’, but I hope he too has learned something from me.
“We have a good relationship, we are similar in the development work and obviously when we are on the track each of us wants to prevail.”
Ocon was asked about the prospect of becoming just the second team-mate to ever beat Alonso, and whether it will gain him any credit amongst the paddock.
“It’s a good question,” he said.
“I don’t read everything that is said about me, I hope that when I do something good it is reported as such, and that those watching can get an idea.
“But it’s true that there are some people who tell me ‘ah, I didn’t notice your qualification at Spa’, or ‘I forgot you won last year’.
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“I admit I find it a bit strange, in the end in qualifying in the comparison with Fernando we are 9 to 7 for him, but I have a few more points in the classification.
“Last year, if we talk about qualifying, we finished the season tied: 11 to 11. If I look at Fernando’s career, the only one of his team-mates who has been his equal is Lewis, all the others have not done better than me.
“Personally I feel I’m doing a good job, and yes, it’s a bit strange sometimes to see that on the outside there are those who perceive it a bit differently.”