Ocon and his contacts with Perez in 2017: “I was very young and inexperienced”

The Force India duo Almost ten years ago, in 2017, Esteban Ocon made his official debut in Formula 1 at the wheel of Force India (now Aston Martin), a season in which the team promoted him after a few GPs in Manor at the end of the previous championship. The Frenchman thus became the new teammate of the more experienced Sergio Perez, reconfirmed for that season. A new pair of drivers who, at first, seemed to bring good results, especially after Ocon’s rapid adaptation to the car. The accidents Between the two, however, a rather dangerous rivalry exploded, characterized by several contacts that occurred during the race. The first, which occurred in Azerbaijan, saw Ocon’s attempt to defend himself from overtaking the Mexican, with the latter ending up against the barriers. A similar dynamic occurred later, in Belgium, and in this case with roles reversed, to the ire of Ocon. Another episode, this time in Singapore, even ended with both cars crashing into the guards. Feelings of guilt Episodes, years later, reviewed and commented by the Frenchman, who admitted not only his mistakes, but that he had always shown respect for his former teammate, now the standard bearer of Cadillac: “I started clearly behind in the first race of 2017 – explained the current Haas driver – but then I managed to recover well and we competed very close. There were moments in which I made mistakes, and others in which I don’t think it was necessarily my fault. I was very young and inexperienced. I wanted to push hard and show people what I was capable of.” “At the time we were just racing as hard as we could and trying to give our all, and that’s also why we got so many points that year: because we were racing very well together. There are things I would have liked to change. Like Spa, for example. These kinds of situations shouldn’t have happened. They cost the team points. I’ve made mistakes throughout my career, and things I shouldn’t have done in racing, but that’s how you learn. We all make mistakes, but that’s how you overcome them. That was how I saw racing back then. The track was what mattered most. Yet, I believe the track is what matters most, but things could have gone differently. With all the respect I had for Checo at the time – and still have today – I would have preferred things to have gone differently.”