RICCIARDO’S NEMESIS?
AFTER MISSING OUT ON A SEAT IN 2019, THIS YOUNG HOT-SHOE IS OUT TO PROVE HIS WORTH. JOB ONE: KNOCK OFF OUR DAN...
Esteban Ocon is the Renault F1 signing out to put Danny Ric in his place. We talk to the man with a lot to prove
ATHICK MOB has formed rapidly, building around a plain white Renault Koleos. It’d be a strange sight if it wasn’t for the fact that a beaming, mile-wide smile is clearly visible in the back seat. The trademark grin of Daniel Ricciardo is unmistakable, and it’s drawing people closer with seemingly magnetic force. The Honey Badger is making a sponsor appearance at a Renault event before the Aussie GP and local fans are desperate to get a glimpse of their hero – it would be one of the only interactions members of the public would have with Ricciardo all weekend.
As the affable West Australian saunters with effortless cool into the shade, the excited fans are hot on his heels, held back only by Ricciardo’s entourage of helpers. He begins a Q&A with fans, and they hang on his every word.
Off to the side, idly admiring a TCR race car, is a young man being completely ignored by the gathered F1 fans. It’s Esteban Ocon, Ricciardo’s new Renault teammate.
Cutting a tall and wiry figure, he has an almost awkward, gangly stance thanks to his lengthy limbs. His teenage appearance is mimicked by a sleep schedule that regularly exceeds 14 hours a night. Dressed in full Renault merchandise with designer-ripped jeans and accompanied by one or two people in similar garb, you wouldn’t give him a second glance if you didn’t know better.
As Ricciardo’s ever-growing throng obscures him from view, Wheels sits down with Ocon to find out what makes the Honey Badger’s worst nightmare tick.
Ocon speaks with confidence, each word released with purpose, wrapped in a thick French accent. Up close you realise just how tall he is: at 186 centimetres, he’s one of the tallest drivers on the grid. However, his silhouette is not imposing, with ultra-thin limbs in contrast to the more gym-toned, physique commonly associated with F1 drivers.
Born in Évreux, Normandy, the Ocon family didn’t have much wealth – his father was a mechanic in their hometown – nor any involvement in racing when Esteban first got behind the wheel. A smile spreads across his face as he recalls the early days of his career, absently picking at a thread on his jeans.
“My dad is a mechanic, so he works on cars, and runs a little garage by himself. No involvement really in motorsport, but a lot of passion,” he recalls.
Passion. It’s an Ocon personality trait with deep roots, the first seeds planted by his hard-working father.
“I was going to sleep in the evening and one car was not starting, and in the morning I was waking up and the car started. It was the passion developing in me the whole time,” Ocon continues. “My dad is still doing the same things that he was doing back in those days.”
Ocon’s career started in karting, with his raw, unrefined talent enough to win a national championship in his second year of racing. At 14 years of age Ocon’s trophy cabinet was swelling with silverware, and he attracted the attention of Gravity Sports management, an associate of then Renault F1 team which ran its junior driver academy. Chosen by F1 team principal Eric Boullier, Ocon’s career had been granted a lifeline, and brought funding his father would never have been able to provide. Esteban’s family had given up almost everything to support him until that point. But with opportunity, comes challenges.
“I had pressure very early on in my career as a kid. In around 2008 I signed on with Gravity, which was the Renault Academy of the past, and I had to deliver,”
Ocon recalls.
While he had backing, the support was devoid of broader performance context, meaning results on a spreadsheet became more important than impressive displays of talent at the track.
“In karting, [key] people were not often there at the track, watching what I was doing, so I had to deliver on paper,” he explains. “It was all about results, and I had a lot of weight on my shoulders as I was supporting the future for my family. It was not easy as a young guy to live like that.”
Diamonds are made under pressure, and Ocon rose to the challenge. His junior career peaked in 2014 when he won the European Formula 3 Championship in convincing fashion. Leading the title fight from the season opener against rivals like Max Verstappen, Tom Blomqvist and Antonio Giovinazzi, Ocon never conceded his position and was crowned champion with a round to spare. He says he relished the win-or-bust situation.
“If I had to do it again, I would. I’m living my dream at the moment, so it’s fantastic to have help from people like [Boullier],” Ocon concludes.
Following his ’14 F3 title, he claimed the GP3 crown the next year and was poached by Mercedes-Benz to join its driver development program. It became rapidly apparent to all that Ocon’s speed was no flash in the pan. He was seriously quick and imbued with the kind of fierce natural talent and passion that would eventually propel him to the gladiatorial pantheon of F1. Joining the grid in 2016, he rose from minnow Manor to join midfielder Racing Point (nee Force India) in 2017, and began giving veteran teammate Sergio Pérez all kinds of hell.
At Racing Point the now 23-year-old earned a reputation
Ocon was crowned Euro F3 champion with a round to spare, besting competition that included Max Verstappen, Tom Blomqvist and Antonio Giovinazzi
for being a brutal, stubborn racer unwilling to concede his position – even if it meant putting a teammate into the wall, or spinning a race leader. His style of driving was a sharp wake-up for grid veterans who thought they could bully the new kid off track.
But when he wasn’t smashing carbonfibre wings, he was ragging an underdeveloped chassis to within an inch of its life, impressing many in the paddock with his speed. However, as any motorsport follower knows, raw talent isn’t enough and when the cash-strapped Racing Point team hit the skids, Ocon was collateral damage.
Having an F1 drive yanked from beneath his feet seems to have humbled Ocon somewhat. A victim of the vicious backroom paddock politics, Ocon was left high and dry during 2018’s silly season musical chairs.
When it ran out of funding, Racing Point was saved from bankruptcy by billionaire fashion magnate Lawrence Stroll. It became immediately clear that nepotism would be inevitable and Stroll’s son Lance would join the team, leaving a single seat over which Ocon and Pérez would fight. The Mexican driver was one of the investors that saved the team from going under, forcing Ocon to pack his bags – so the hunt for a new home began.
Talks were initiated with Mercedes-Benz as a potential replacement for Valtteri Bottas. However, despite Ocon being contracted to the German manufacturer on a multiyear development deal, the switch was vetoed by team principal Toto Wolff personally. Wolff thought Ocon too young to be vaulted into the top team just yet.
There was also a seat available at Renault. However, history will tell that Ocon didn’t wear black and yellow overalls in 2019, as Daniel Ricciardo made the shock move from Red Bull to join the French manufacturer.
The music stopped, and Ocon – one of the brightest young talents on the grid at the time – was left without a seat. He would spend the next 12 months as Merc’s reserve driver. That role might sound like a cushy job but it turned out to be hard yakka due to a gruelling simulator regime that Ocon readily admits almost “destroyed” him.
“I mean, the season I had was very, very demanding,” Ocon told Autosport last year. “I was not sleeping for two days [at a time], it was quite crazy – the amount of travel I was doing, and the amount of hours I was doing in the simulator and then travelling to the track, doing stuff for Mercedes. They used me well ... but a lot.”
Long hours cramped in a hot simulator, cranking out a mind-numbing number of validation laps, staring at the screen; it was a significant mental challenge for Ocon but he remained singular in his focus. He needed to get back onto the grid.
“It was difficult. Last year I tried to apply myself
110 percent; I didn’t want any regrets,” he tells Wheels.
“I think regrets are the worst thing you can have in life.”
At this point Ocon pauses, clearly contemplating his next words carefully. It feels like there is more to be divulged but a Renault media minder suddenly hovers into view, prompting a more guarded, sanitised response.