Ocon: We had two number ones in 2022, I expect same this year

Alpine will run a all-French driver lineup in 2023, after replacing Fernando Alonso with Pierre Gasly, their plans to do so with Oscar Piastri failing spectacularly last year.

Many has been said about Ocon and Gasly getting along together, with history showing the two haven't been the best of pals, but all parties involved have been playing down the friction between the two Alpine drivers.

Quoted by F1's official website, Ocon said: "With Pierre it’s going to be a great year. He’s joining the team in the right moment, in the moment that we are also going up [and] progressing.

"We both have the same targets, we want to fight at the front, and I’m sure together we have a great story to write, together with this team.

"If people would have said one day we would be racing for one of the top teams in F1, I think we would have been so happy when we were little kids, and now that is the case, so it’s more than awesome and I can’t wait to get started," Ocon explained.

Ocon revealed that he was ill over the winter break, but having recovered, he plans to pick up from where he left in 2022.

"I feel like I need to keep doing the work that I was doing last year – it’s something that was working well. Each driver is a leader in one way," he said.

"Me and Fernando last year, we had same approach, the same feedback for the team. But there was not one leader or one guy that was not a leader. We had two number ones and I expect that to be the same thing this year," the Frenchman insisted.

As for Gasly', Ocon said: "Of course, the important [thing] is for the team to get Pierre as competitive as he can be in the beginning, and I’m sure that will be the case.

"The team has a lot of experience and I can definitely use that well in the beginning to identify what we need to work on.

"There’s no reason to change anything, for me, on that side, and I will focus on myself and try to get the maximum out of this little beauty [the A523]," the one-time brand prix winner concluded.

Ocon was speaking at the launch of the Alpine's 2023 F1 challenger, the A523, which he will soon sample at the pre-season test in Bahrain starting February 23.