DO LEW THINK IT’S EASY?

Ocon: Hamilton works really hard for success.. his Mercedes is good but it doesn’t do everything for him

ESTEBAN OCON has jumped to the defence of Lewis Hamilton as he looks to equal Michael Schumacher’s race wins record.

Hamilton’s success with Mercedes is often questioned because he drives the dominant car on the grid.

But Ocon, who was contracted to the Silver Arrows before joining g Renault DP World F1 Team, insists s the

Brit does not have it easy.

“Well, hats off because e obviously he has been on the top of his game for a long, long time,” Ocon said ahead of tomorrow’s Eifel Grand Prix at the Nuerburgring in Germany. y.

“Seeing him work closely... ely... people think, ‘ Oh he is just talented, he jumps in the car and he has a Mercedes and it does everything for him’. That is not true.

“He is working very hard with his engineers, he is guiding them to good d directions.

“He is guiding the team and improving their confidence the right way.

“He is part of that and his success is not just random – that doesn’t exist.

“Everything that he does, he is obviously very talented, but he works very hard for it.

“Some people don’t necessarily understand all of that.”

Given he was Hamilton’s reserve driver last year, Ocon is best placed to know how hard the 35-yearold has worked kd to t move to t within ithi one of Schumacher’s 91 race wins.

The Frenchman is pleased Hamilton’s efforts are paying off, with the Brit on course to level Schumacher’s seven world titles this season. However, Ocon wants his former team- mate to have a much more difficult battle when he looks to surpass the legend legendary German in 2021. “W “We all hope Formula 1 is go going to get closer so that s some other teams can fight for wins,” Ocon ( left) said. “It is getting closer so hopefully it won’t be as easy for him to get the title next year.

“You never know from one year to another. “Everyone is working so hard in Formula 1 and obviously Mercedes have been dominating for years.

“I think they are going to be competitive again. I don’t see them dropping the order but everyone is working hard and they can catch the pack up.”

Renault are fifth in the constructors championship, so can they kick on and stop Hamilton in his tracks when the team rebrands to Alpine in the new year?

“That’s what we would like definitely,” Ocon said. “We would like to catch that gap but we are still very far off.

“We still have a long way to go, even if we are progressing.”

Esteban Ocon was talking thanks to team sponsor, DP World. Check them out at dpworld.com