The two Alpine Formula 1 teammates had an exciting wheel-to-wheel duel on track at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Sunday, and Frenchman Esteban Ocon enjoyed it immensely by all accounts.

After a brief battle with the Mercedes of George Russell and the Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas at the start of the F1 race, the two Alpine teammates then engaged in an exciting wheel-to-wheel duel, which was the main source of excitement at the start of the race. The two drivers exchanged positions on several occasions before Fernando Alonso moved up to sixth place.

After staying in the DRS zone of his Spanish teammate for several laps, Esteban Ocon finally surrendered his position to Bottas who took the place away from the Frenchman.

At the end of the race, Ocon – who finished sixth on Sunday in Jeddah – said he had really enjoyed the tough battle with his teammate and confirmed once again that it is much easier to keep up with another car on track this year.

“With these cars you can really follow each other”

“We scored some good points again and overall I’m happy with my race. The fight with Fernando was really nice. It was a tough, fair, wheel-to-wheel race that reminded me of the karting days,” said the Frenchman.

“With these cars you can really follow each other, and that’s definitely a good thing for the sport. It’s a pity we couldn’t finish with both cars in the points [Alonso retired with a mechanical problem], but we proved we are competitive and we have to continue like this.

“The end of the race was exciting because we beat Lando [Norris] to the line. It was like a redemption for me compared to last year [he was beaten on the line by Bottas].”

After this Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, the Alpine team is fourth in the 2022 Constructors’ World Championship.