F1: Esteban Ocon thrilled with Lewis Hamilton battle in Japan

Esteban Ocon could not hide how much he enjoyed the fight he had with Lewis Hamilton during the Japanese Grand Prix.

The Frenchman scored a season best fourth place at Suzuka on Sunday with a fine drive for Alpine, as the team earned a very welcome double points finish after their double retirement at Singapore the weekend prior.

Indeed, that’s got them back above McLaren in the standings and the fight for fourth looks as though it could only intensify further in the final four races of the campaign.

Ocon certainly had to work for his fourth place during the Grand Prix, however, with Hamilton hounding him for much of the race.

The Mercedes driver was all over the Frenchman’s gearbox and on several occasions looked to make the overtake, but the better straight-line speed of the Alpine helped Ocon hold position.

He clearly loved the fight he was involved in, too, as Hamilton did, with the Alpine ace saying this after the race at Suzuka:

“It’s very good that we’ve scored that many points. It was looking like we had nothing in the beginning – there was no racing, the weather was really bad.

“Eventually, [the rainfall] reduced. I was still not confident that we would be able to go, but the track did clear quite quickly and it was good to finally get going.

“From there on, the fighting with Lewis, I enjoyed it a lot – it was a lot of fun.

“It was a bit of a karting battle, trying different lines; not one corner [was] I not watching my mirrors! It was definitely good fun, I’m very happy with the outcome.”

READ MORE: Lewis Hamilton’s beaming reaction to racing in the wet at Suzuka

It was a great fight between the two drivers, who gave each other enough room but also really raced hard.

When F1 does race in the wet it really can