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Esteban Ocon is proud to drive for Renault, now Alpine, after being a Mercedes junior driver for many years. The Frenchman was a reserve driver for the Brackley-based outfit and was in contention to replace Valtteri Bottas at one point.
Despite that not materializing, Ocon was able to nab a seat at Renault and switch camps. Looking back, he admitted he didn't know how close he was to replacing Bottas at Mercedes, saying:
“I don’t know. 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. What I know is I was very proud of my choice, in the end going to Renault to race with the team I grew up with at Enstone for so many years. Back in 2011, when I was still in go-karts, I was training at their facilities, just seeing the F1 drivers being there and dreaming of one day being one of the two drivers. I’ve joined that team and we have created many great memories, and we hope to create many more.”
It's the Mercedes dedication that stood out: Esteban Ocon
As Mercedes' reserve driver, Esteban Ocon could study the team up close and personal. Speaking on the Beyond the Grid podcast, he pointed to the team's dedication to success as what set it apart. Claiming that the team performed a lot of work and introspection into every tiny shortcoming, Ocon said:
“What impressed me about that team is how much they knew the subject, basically. And the dedication. How much work I put in was amazing. I’ve never done that many laps in the simulator before a race weekend. We were doing like 230 laps of the Red Bull Ring before the weekend, from six in the evening to four in the morning, and then I was flying to the track. It was dedication and hard work, and it was paying off. And in all of the departments, that’s how things were working. People would think it’s very robotic from the outside and they were seeing domination, clearly, but it was not like that at all. There was a lot of debate, a lot of question marks. When there was a failure, people were actually thinking, ‘oh, we need to change this thing to make it work’. It was not straightforward and you go and win races, not at all. But yeah, just very impressed of how well the subject was executed.”
Since moving to Alpine, Esteban Ocon has scored his first podium in the sport at the 2020 Sakhir GP and his first win at the 2021 Hungarian GP.
