Esteban Ocon’s career low point: “I went to the hire car and cried”

The starting point looked promising: In mid-2018, Esteban Ocon put in some strong performances in the Force India car; he managed to beat his formidable team-mate Sergio ‘Checo’ Pérez seven times in a row in the team’s internal qualifying duels and was also leading the drivers’ standings. This did not go unnoticed, and it wasn’t long before rivals expressed interest in the then Mercedes junior driver.

The Mercedes works team also had Ocon in their sights as a potential successor to Valtteri Bottas, to prove himself alongside Lewis Hamilton during the season. However, as both McLaren and Renault were interested in the fast Frenchman, team principal Toto Wolff decided to extend the Finn’s contract. This was announced on 20 July.

Ocon, who was spoilt for choice at the time, travelled to the McLaren factory in Woking for a seat fitting. He did this with a view to possibly succeeding Stoffel Vandoorne at the historic British team as early as the 2018 season. However, nothing came of it because Renault expressed an interest in Ocon.

The French team, however, decided to sign Daniel Ricciardo, who left the Red Bull Racing team and was replaced there by Ocon’s compatriot Pierre Gasly. The McLaren team, having been told that Ocon was unavailable, had in the meantime begun negotiations with Carlos Sainz to bring the fast Spaniard on board. As a result, Ocon ended up without a seat and had to settle for the role of reserve driver at Mercedes in 2019.

A lot of work behind the scenes

In an ‘You Ask The Questions’ interview with ‘Autosport’, the 29-year-old admits: ‘It was difficult. I was actually meant to be a driver at Renault, but there was also interest from another team. And those two things together ultimately meant that my year in Formula 1 was ruined. It was a tough year; naturally, I wasn’t happy with my situation. I carried on developing the car at night and did the work of two reserve drivers on my own. Later on, they had two or three drivers who shared that work between them. That shows just how committed I was.”

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“The car was winning races, but I wasn’t in the cockpit. That was tough, especially when, back in Melbourne, Andrew Shovlin told me on my asking that I wouldn’t be testing until July. That meant I’d be spending three or four months on the sidelines. And yet the plan had been for me to do a lot of testing. “I remember going to the hire car and crying,” says Ocon. “Because it was very important to me that I could drive and prepare properly for the following year.”

Ocon was able to return to the starting grid in 2020, as Renault signed the fast driver from Évreux. He spent five years on the track for the Enstone-based team and, in 2021, celebrated his only victory to date at the Hungaroring with the French side. After the 2024 season, he left the team to join Gene Haas’s US-based team, for whom he is still racing this year.