When Alpine officially made the announcement of pairing Esteban Ocon with a world champion like Fernando Alonso, it almost looked like the veteran would crush the Frenchman in the teammate battle by the end of the 2021 season.

However, quite interestingly, that hasn’t been the case. While Alonso has certainly looked at the top of his game and is still ahead of Ocon in the driver’s standings, Ocon hasn’t been any less impressive.

After only 22 races this season, Ocon already has a race win in the bag and almost a podium in Saudi Arabia only for Valtteri Bottas to snatch it right at the chequered flag. Nevertheless, Ocon drove exceptionally well against much superior McLaren and Ferrari throughout the night at Jeddah.

Hence, a very successful campaign with the debutant, Alpine Racing. What’s more, Ocon, despite being stranded outside the top 10 in the driver’s standings, can live with the fact that he was hardly 5 points away from beating the 2-time Renault world champion.

Ross Brawn decodes the reason behind Ocon’s 2021 show at Alpine

One can say Ocon has matured more as a racing driver. But, that reason doesn’t seem to satisfy Ross Brawn, motorsport managing director. Instead, the former Brawn GP owner felt that Ocon’s ecstatic 2021 campaign has a lot to do with Alonso’s presence.

“Esteban has really come through this year. Maybe racing alongside Fernando has helped him. When you get an elder statesman and young charger, if they get on well, they can complement each other – And that’s what is happening at Alpine,” he wrote to F1.

“He’s come on a long way. It must have been so frustrating for him to lose the podium as he was driving brilliantly before getting outgunned by Mercedes power on the line. But as well as his win earlier in the season, he will take a lot of confidence from his results this season.”

Overall, Ocon is starting to prove his worth as an F1 driver after enduring a rather stale couple of years at Force India and Renault. And it’s only a matter of time before Alonso quits racing and the mantle shifts to the Frenchman. A huge responsibility in the offing. But, can he be ready by then? Only time will tell.

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