Ocon: 'Fighting Verstappen, Leclerc and Gasly as kids made us all better drivers'

New Renault driver Esteban Ocon has argued battling Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly throughout their entire youth careers has made all of them better drivers, as the Frenchman argues the competitiveness between the young quartet has brought the best out of all four of them.

Ocon famously battled Verstappen hard in the 2014 Formula 3 championship, with Ocon eventually winning the championship as the Dutchman ended in third place. Still, Verstappen got the promotion to F1 in 2015 while Ocon had to wait his turn until the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix.

Gasly and Ocon also were very close friends and rivals growing up, as was Leclerc, although the two Frenchmen were a year older. Verstappen and Leclerc have been fierce rivals since their karting days.

"He [Leclerc] has fought Verstappen, Gasly and me his whole career to get here [to F1]," Ocon told French news outlet NextGen Auto.

"It's made us lift each other to a higher level and it's motivated all of us to keep wanting to do better."

Leclerc has enjoyed a break-out season at Ferrari, beating teammate Sebastian Vettel in the championship while also getting more pole positions than anyone else on the grid. 

"Charles deserves what's happening to him now and it comes as no surprise to me. I've said he would win races and get pole positions if he would have a car that could do this. I've also said he'd finish ahead of Vettel in the championship."

Ocon will have the chance to show his worth in 2020 now that he has a seat on the grid again as he'll partner Daniel Ricciardo at Renault.