Esteban Ocon: “I did my job, not the team”
Starting from the back of the grid, Esteban Ocon managed to score a point at the end of a rollercoaster Canadian Grand Prix. However, the French driver did not hide his bitterness at the finish, not digesting a team order towards the end of the race.
Alpine achieved its best Grand Prix in Canada since the start of the season. Two cars finished in the points (9th and 10th), while the single-seaters started far back on the grid. What more could you ask for? Esteban Ocon, on the other hand, was aiming for ninth place. A position he had to give up on the penultimate lap of the race, to his teammate Pierre Gasly…
A strong comeback, Esteban Ocon braved the elements.
Starting last on the grid, the French driver still harbored hopes given the uncertain and capricious weather of this Grand Prix. He and his engineers were able to take risks, make the right choices at the right times, in order to make the most of the opportunities in the race. His start was excellent. He managed to overtake 4 drivers on the first lap! He then made the daring choice not to stop at the first safety car deployment on the 26th lap of the race. At that point, he was in 9th position! A position he almost didn’t leave until the end of the Grand Prix.
“I’m in a race where I start last, I take all the necessary risks. I have to finish 9th to score 2 points, I’m happy that we scored points as a team but we would have scored them just as much if I didn’t let Pierre pass at the end… I don’t know where the call came from, but in any case I did my part of the job, that’s the most important.”
A team instruction that aimed to bring Daniel Ricciardo, according to Bruno Famin, the director of the French team. Esteban Ocon had a slight energy management issue, preventing him from being able to fight against the Australian driver.
A tense end of the season is looming at Alpine.
Esteban Ocon didn’t mince his words on Canal + microphone in the mixed zone. Beyond the team order misunderstanding, the Évreux native implies a complicated end of the season:
« I played my part of the role which is to respect the team’s instructions, as I always have anyway. Unfortunately, we can see the trend that will happen until the end of the year and it’s not right. I did my job, not the team, in this race. It’s sad that it ends like this at the end of the race.
To see if Esteban Ocon reacted excessively, in the heat of the moment, or if the issues run deeper…
