Ocon, a Mercedes junior driver since 2015, is roughly a year and a half Russell's senior and has been associated with the German giants for longer.
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Esteban Ocon says he is “extremely proud” of the path he has chosen, despite George Russell being granted a Mercedes chance ahead of him. That path led to Renault, which is now known as Alpine, and Ocon finished second with them in the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix before winning his first Formula One race at the Hungaroring last year. Ocon, a Mercedes junior driver since 2015, is roughly a year and a half Russell’s senior and has been associated with the German giants for longer.
He made his F1 debut in 2016 with Manor, then spent two seasons with Force India/Racing Point until being replaced by Lance Stroll after the team was bought out by the Canadian driver’s father. Ocon was forced to sit out the 2019 season, however reports surfaced midway through the season that he may replace Valtteri Bottas at Mercedes in 2020. However, Ocon signed with Renault, and when Mercedes decided not to renew Bottas’ contract for 2022, they chose to promote Russell instead.
Asked about how close he had been to partnering Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes, Ocon said: “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.”
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“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.”
Toto Wolff has thrown his support behind Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton after the seven-time world champion finished eighth in the Monaco Grand Prix. After so many “unlucky situations,” the Mercedes team leader believes it is just a matter of time before the “pendulum swings” in his driver’s favour. George Russell, Hamilton’s teammate, finished fifth in Monaco, continuing his trend of placing in the top five in every 2022 race so far. Russell is fourth in the drivers’ standings with 84 points, while Hamilton is sixth with just 50. Despite the distance, Wolff believes his two drivers are pretty much on the same pace.
“I think when you look at the bad spells that Lewis had – I mean look at the race today, stuck again, contact with Esteban [Ocon], stuck behind Fernando [Alonso],” said Wolff. “The red flag yesterday in qualifying and then you know what happens in races before. I think the pendulum will swing so that these unlucky situations will stop with Lewis.”
