Ocon: Racing Hamilton always a pleasure

Ocon and Hamilton served us with an enthralling battle at Suzuka after the restart of the race, as the seven-time Formula 1 Champion fought tooth and nail with the Frenchman for fourth place.

But Ocon would not budge, nailing his defense and Hamilton threw everything in his armory against him having to eventually settle for fifth.

Nevertheless, the fans were the ones who benefitted the most from that fight, after having to suffer the long wait for the race to restart.

"To finish fourth is a fantastic result for us, especially in these conditions," Esteban said after the race. "It was a difficult start with the rain and poor visibility, so we had to be fully focused to get through the early stages. I'm glad we managed to race and reward the fans who have been so good in their support all weekend.

"Racing Lewis [Hamilton] is always a pleasure and I was having to drive while looking in my mirrors the whole time," the Alpine driver claimed.

"Congratulations to Max for winning the world championship. He deserves it after dominating and driving brilliantly at every race.

"We leave Japan with a great haul of points, claiming back fourth in the Constructors' Championship," Ocon concluded.

On the other side of the Alpine garage, Fernando Alonso was also locked in a fight of his own with Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel but also failed to overtake the German despite attempting an undercut.

Alonso finished seventh behind Vettel as they crossed the line in what must be the closest photo finish we have seen in some time.

Alonso said later: "It was a fun but very chaotic race today and I'm glad we managed to put on a show in the end for the fans.

"We scored some good points and I think we could have scored even more," he added. "It was a difficult race to manage with the wet conditions, safety cars and the red flag. There were also couple of incidents which I'm sure will be reviewed to improve for the future.

"Finally, congratulations to Max [Verstappen] on winning the Championship. Overall, it's very well deserved and hopefully next year he has more competition!," Alonso concluded.