Esteban Ocon believes he would be challenging Max Verstappen for the world title in F1 if he had the same equipment as the dominant Red Bull driver.
In Canada last weekend, Verstappen enjoyed his 41st career win in F1 after another lights-to-flag display in Montreal that allowed the Dutchman to increase his lead in the Drivers' championship over his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez to 69 points.
The Mexican driver traded wins with Verstappen in the opening races of 2003 but since, mighty Max has been running on his own at the front of field, his supremacy unchecked by his rivals.
Ocon, who only has a single win to his name in F1 – the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix – believes that he would give Verstappen a proper run for his money if he was armed with the same machine as the Dutchman.
"I see myself fighting with Verstappen for the World Championship if we had the same car," claimed the Alpine charger, speaking to DAZN.
"Max is doing an incredible job, he is dominating with Red Bull, but I don’t care who the driver is.
"I want to fight for the Championship. I’ve always believed in myself. There’s a long road ahead, but my goal is to be World Champion."
During their junior years in the sport, Ocon and Verstappen faced off in the 2014 European Formula 3 Championship, but the Frenchman won the title by a significant margin over Sweden's Tom Blomqvist while Verstappen ended up third in the standings.
Like the two-time world champion, Ocon has acquired in F1 over the years a reputation for battling his rivals hard out on the track, often resorting to a no compromise approach to his wheel-to-wheel duels.
At the end of last season, there was no love lost between Ocon and his former Alpine teammate Fernando Alonso as a result of the pair suffering a few run-ins.
Ocon acknowledged his hardline approach to racing, but insists he's happy with his way of fighting his opponents.
"The truth is I don’t want people to think I’m a tough guy, because I’m a nice guy out there," he added.
"But my way of driving is hard. It’s probably true, but I’m happy with it."
This season, Ocon's high point was his remarkable podium finish at Monaco. In Montreal, the Frenchman finished eighth just behind the Williams of Alex Albon.
Ocon believes the Enstone squad is performing well but needs to raise its game in terms of its strategy choices, and Montreal was a reflection of that current relative weakness.
"We're doing a great job on track but [it's more] outside the track," he said.
"So we need to review where that was lost, if that was [during] the Safety Car or if that was the strategy in general, going [to] two stops [from a one-stop].
"[We need to see] what exactly it was because we ended up behind Alex and we knew we shouldn't end up behind the Williams – they are extremely difficult to pass, and we couldn't we get in front.
"[There were] good battles we enjoyed, all of us as drivers. Alex, Valtteri [Bottas] and Lando [Norris], it was good fun to race with them.
"But [on this occasion] we lost."
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
