Esteban Ocon's 2020 season was not an easy one following his return to the sport after a year out in 2019 when Racing Point replaced him with Lance Stroll. 

It was a tricky year for the Frenchman as he struggled to match teammate Daniel Ricciardo throughout the condensed season. 

He finished P12 and 57 points adrift of Ricciardo (P5) in the championship as the Australian was very much team leader at Renault. Ocon lost out 2-15 in the qualifying head-to-head. 

He was also given team orders to let his Australian teammate through at three of the events because of Ricciardo's superior speed. 

Despite the bad stats, Ocon feels like he made progress as the year went on and did score his maiden podium at the penultimate race in Sakhir; he also outqualified Ricciardo for the first time in the dry at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. 

"Overall, the progress has been very strong," Ocon said. 

"I'm pretty happy with how I've ended the season in terms of pace, performance, and how we are working with the team together. 

"That is a lot stronger than how it has been to start with. 

"I feel like I've gained performance, I've gained confidence in the car, and that's very good.’’ 

3rd place alluded Renault in the Constructors' Championship as they finished P5 in the end behind McLaren and Racing Point. 

Ocon's challenge doesn't become any easier as his teammate will be two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso. Nonetheless, he feels they'll be in a pretty strong position come 2021. 

"We will make sure that we are on top of the details next year, and that we are ready. 

"It's a bit of a shame that we missed on third place in the constructors' this weekend, but there's a lot of positives to take on board with this year, and things that we didn't do perfectly right as well. 

"We will have a way of working for next year, but taking the positives and cancelling and erasing the negatives, we should be in a pretty strong position next year."