Ocon would be 'very happy' to partner Alonso at Renault in 2021

Esteban Ocon says he would be more than happy to be teamed up with two-time world champion Fernando Alonso in 2021.

A seat at Renault is currently vacant for next year following Daniel Ricciardo's decision to leave the team for McLaren at the end of the 2020 campaign.

A number of drivers, including Alonso and Sebastian Vettel, have been linked with the drive at the Enstone-based squad, as have its juniors Christian Lundgaard and Guanyu Zhou.

Vettel will leave Ferrari at the conclusion of the season, while Alonso's future in motorsport is currently in the air, having last raced in F1 in 2018 for McLaren. 

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When asked on Thursday in Spielberg if he would like to be teammates with either Alonso or Vettel, Ocon responded that he would be pleased to see Alonso return to the sport. 

“My personal choice has no relation to what the team are going to do,” Ocon affirmed. “But I have a great relationship with Fernando.

“The helmet I have and the only swap I did in between drivers was with him. He was the one that [fought] with Michael [Schumacher] back in the day that gave me the love for the sport.

“I don't know if he's going to join or not. But definitely, if he could come back, I would be very happy.”

The same question was directed to Ricciardo, who selected Alonso as he has already experienced Vettel as a teammate when they were both at Red Bull in 2014, prior to Vettel's Ferrari switch.

However, Ricciardo says that he would not be opposed to teaming up with Vettel again in the future. 

“I would only say Alonso because it's something I'm yet to experience,” Ricciardo said. “Teammates are great benchmarks and also great additions to your skillset. You can always learn something. 

“I don't think there's any driver in this sport that's been perfect yet, there's always improvements to make. So for that, I'd say Fernando. In that as well, I only had 12 months with Seb and that went pretty quickly. So I wouldn't be opposed to that again.”