Ocon hails learnings from ‘legendary’ Alonso

Esteban Ocon has hailed Alpine team-mate Fernando Alonso as a "legend" of F1 after picking up "a lot of things" from the Spaniard throughout 2021.

Alonso made his F1 return last season after two years away from the paddock but despite a shaky start to the campaign, a number of strong performances highlighted the two-time champion had lost none of his edge.

Racing alongside Alonso was a chance to take lessons directly from one of the best for Ocon, an opportunity he refused to let pass.

Speaking in a post-season media briefing including GPFans, Ocon said: "I've picked up quite a lot of things from him, looking at his first laps, which is something I've always been doing.

"I've always been following him, what he was doing, and yet, towards the end of the year, I was only gaining positions not losing any and I was doing great first laps."

Despite Alonso's time out of the sport, Ocon claimed that from the start of pre-season testing, he had used the Spaniard as a barometer of his own progress.

“I think it's a privilege to be working alongside a legend like him, and I did put him as a reference for sure, in the beginning of the year, and I was happy to see that I was matching him in terms of pace and we were pushing each other," added Ocon.

“That, in the end, gave the team the maximum that we could have basically and we were extracting the maximum out of the package for most of the time, so that was good."

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