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Esteban Ocon, who has been a Mercedes junior driver since 2015, recently revealed that he would not be in F1 without the support of Toto Wolff. He admitted that despite not getting the chance to drive for the Silver Arrows as of yet, he is grateful for the role Wolff played in his career.
In an interview with SPEEDWEEK.COM, the Frenchman said:
“He has been helping me since 2015. Thanks to him and Mercedes, I was able to take the next steps. I wouldn’t be here in Formula 1 without him. We still have a very good relationship, I’m grateful to him.”
Earlier this year, Ocon revealed that he was reassured by Wolff that he would definitely have a seat in 2020 after the Frenchman was unable to do so for the 2019 season. He admitted that the Mercedes team principal stayed true to his word and made his seat at Renault possible. Speaking on the Beyond the Grid podcast, the Alpine driver said:
“I was very well looked after from James Vowles, from Toto [Wolff]. They were looking after me and trying to find solutions. Toto was quite clear, he said you will drive in 2020. It’s been quite a few times that when he spoke about something [it] actually happened. And it did happen again. Not at Mercedes but at Renault.”
Esteban Ocon hopes to challenge Mercedes with upcoming Alpine upgrades
Esteban Ocon recently admitted that Alpine is not in a position to fight the "big boys" on track as of yet. He, however, hopes that the team will be ready to challenge the Silver Arrows at some point in the championship with continuous improvements and upgrades.
When asked about the prospects of challenging the top teams this season on Channel 4, Ocon said:
“Yeah. At the moment, that’s where we are of course. As much as we have improved the car, we haven’t improved it enough yet to be able to fight the Mercs. But it is the aim to fight higher, for sure, and it’s still early days and I have hopes we can at some point fight with them.”
“There are plans to bring more things to the car and we’ve seen since Silverstone the team brought an upgrade and made a massive step up. So that’s still on the way and we will keep going.”
Currently, 156 points separate Alpine and Mercedes in the constructors' standings, with the French team currently tied with McLaren at the top of the midfield.
