Is Esteban Ocon actually a bad team-mate?

He debuted with a backmarker staff earlier than shifting as much as an even bigger one, the place he partnered with a longtime driver – a staff chief for a number of years. Issues did not go easily. Except for a couple of disagreements over technique that led to heated radio exchanges, there have been additionally a few crashes. Nothing too sudden when a younger, formidable driver joins a staff to not play a supporting position however to show himself.

Have you ever guessed the motive force’s identify but? One final clue: he speaks French.

His identify, after all, is Charles Leclerc. Or did you’ve got another person in thoughts?

Someday earlier than his second System 1 victory – within the 2019 Italian Grand Prix – Leclerc severely aggravated not solely Sebastian Vettel but additionally his boss Mattia Binotto by refusing to supply a slipstream for his team-mate within the ultimate moments of qualifying. The German then broke staff agreements in Sochi by refusing to cede the place he had gained firstly because of Leclerc’s tow. Later that 12 months, they crashed in Sao Paulo, with each sharing the blame, and some months later, the Monegasque collided along with his team-mate on the opening lap of the second Pink Bull Ring race, inflicting each Ferraris to retire from the race.

Staff-mates in System 1 should not crash into one another. Ideally, they need to all the time put the staff’s pursuits forward of their very own. However generally they do crash. They usually usually disobey, or at the least query, staff orders. This description of a “younger and impressive” driver might additionally apply to Max Verstappen. His defensive drive in opposition to Daniel Ricciardo within the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix was maybe over the road. The well-known crash that adopted was already their second, as Verstappen had additionally ended his team-mate’s race at Hungaroring in 2017 – destroying Ricciardo’s automobile in a very aggressive transfer on the primary lap. And bear in mind Max’s notorious “No!” in response to a staff order to let Carlos Sainz by means of in Singapore throughout his debut season?

Max Verstappen, Pink Bull Racing RB14 and Daniel Ricciardo, Pink Bull Racing RB14 crash

Photograph by: Sutton Pictures

Neither Leclerc nor Verstappen have the popularity of being dangerous team-mates. Charles might be too handsome to be seen as a villain, and Max… nicely, he simply wins the whole lot, does not he? All joking apart, they do not have such a popularity in all probability as a result of they’re simply seen as extremely aggressive people – and it is solely pure for such drivers to generally put their very own curiosity forward of the staff’s.

For Esteban Ocon, nonetheless, the picture of somebody “continually crashing into his team-mates” has develop into a defining a part of his picture – particularly should you ask round on social media.

You’d have to return to his time with Sergio Perez at Pressure India to seek out the roots of this notion – they usually did have their justifiable share of run-ins.

“I do not know precisely why,” shrugs Ocon when requested about his popularity as we converse in Bahrain throughout his first pre-season check with Haas. “I feel issues have in all probability been blown out of proportion at instances. Yeah, there’s been some incidents, for positive, and issues that I might have appreciated, … to have gone otherwise at instances.

“However after I look again, I’ve tried my greatest to work nicely with the staff and my team-mate, and I feel each time we have achieved the objectives along with what the automobile might have achieved – whether or not it is Sergio, Daniel [Ricciardo], Fernando [Alonso] or Pierre [Gasly]. I’ve labored nicely with all of them, to be honest. Sure, there have been incidents that I might have appreciated to have been totally different, for positive. However over time, it has been little or no.”

However was it actually “little or no”?

Sergio Perez, Pressure India VJM10, Esteban Ocon, Pressure India VJM10

Photograph by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Pictures

Throughout their two seasons collectively, Pérez and Ocon had 5 separate incidents on monitor, although Ocon is eager to level out that these by no means affected Pressure India’s championship place. Given the pecking order of the period, he and his team-mate usually discovered themselves racing in opposition to one another, with the staff nicely behind the highest three, however principally forward of the midfield.

“They have been 5?” Ocon laughs when requested about these incidents.

“I do bear in mind all of them, for positive,” he provides. “I’ve all the time tried to do my greatest within the automobile, I’ve all the time tried to get the utmost out of the whole lot I had in my palms. It is by no means a very good factor to have contact together with your team-mate, and that is not one thing I ever need.

“However yeah, it occurred a few instances as a result of we have been racing very shut, and a bit of bit on our personal – as a result of that first 12 months in 2017, we have been between sixth and eighth more often than not, and that was us [always] on the identical row of the grid.

“Now… yeah, I’ve stated issues within the press that, being younger and hungry, I in all probability would not have stated now. And I’ve full respect for Checo, and it has been a pleasure, actually, to be his team-mate.”

Ocon is way more cautious with the media lately. What he might have stated, although, is that individuals appear to overlook that of these 5 clashes, primarily just one was largely his fault – the one in Baku in 2017, the place he pushed Perez into the wall popping out of Flip 3 on the primary lap.

Later that 12 months in Hungary, the Mexican punted Ocon’s automobile into Flip 1, and some weeks later, he twice squeezed his team-mate into the skin wall on the run to Eau Rouge. It was after that race that Ocon lashed out within the TV pen: “That is how unprofessional he’s. He is by no means finished that with every other team-mate, and yeah, I feel I am going to go man to man to see him and, , inform him the reality – and I am not going to be afraid of him.”

Esteban Ocon, Racing Level Pressure India F1 Staff

Photograph by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Pictures

He later posted the notorious tweet accusing Checo of attempting to “kill” him twice.

A 12 months later in Singapore, they might contact once more after the Frenchman tried to overhaul Pérez on the opening lap, solely to be pushed off the monitor. “And it is Ocon once more, who’s squeezed into the wall by his team-mate,” commented David Croft reside on Sky Sports activities because the Frenchman parked his three-wheeled automobile on the aspect of the monitor. However whereas 4 out of 5 of their incidents have been principally as a result of Pérez being overprotective, it’s Ocon who has been left with the “dangerous team-mate” moniker.

It in all probability caught a lot later, although – maybe through the time Ocon shared a storage with Fernando Alonso at Alpine. Additionally they had their justifiable share of on-track motion. Keep in mind the Spaniard’s radio message after the primary lap in Hungary in 2022?

“By no means in my life have I seen a defence like Esteban’s at present. By no means.”

But in two years, they solely touched as soon as, within the dash race in Brazil. Whereas attempting to overhaul Ocon on the primary straight, Alonso broken his entrance wing. “Due to our good friend,” he introduced on the radio. And as their relationship got here to an finish after two years, Fernando famous in certainly one of his interviews that he was “all the time combating in opposition to one automobile all 12 months”, suggesting that he wasn’t all the time proud of the best way Ocon raced in opposition to him.

And whereas there’s in all probability some fact to that, it may be argued that the two-time world champion has by no means been shy about pushing his personal narrative by means of the media. In spite of everything, the team-mate he in all probability praised probably the most throughout his profession was Stoffel Vandoorne, as nearly each time he beat the Belgian in qualifying, he cited the total checklist of titles his youthful colleague had gained throughout his junior profession. Now, in accordance with Alonso, Lance Stroll is a future world champion, too.

Fernando Alonso, Alpine, Esteban Ocon, Alpine

Photograph by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Pictures

“We had a couple of battles for positive,” says Ocon of Alonso. “However yeah, out of two years we touched as soon as, I feel, and it did not have any consequence as a result of we had the race of our lives the subsequent day. We began final [the next day] and I feel Fernando completed fifth and I completed [eighth] in Brazil.

“However I love Fernando so much. He is all the time been one of many drivers that I’ve revered probably the most for what he is finished and for his driving abilities and his skill on the monitor.

“For me, he is the motive force who thinks probably the most outdoors the field. And I discuss to him so much! You understand, even now, on the [F1 75] launch, we have been speaking about go-karting. As a result of we reside and breathe racing and that is a quite common level that we’ve collectively. It has been an honor to work with such a champion – and a two-time world champion.”

However Ocon does not need to get right into a disagreement, which is comprehensible given the sensitivity of the topic. Particularly now, after two years sharing the Alpine storage with Pierre Gasly – and the now-legendary Monaco crash, which left Ocon going through a wave of criticism on social media.

“With Pierre, it is a very lengthy story,” he smiles. “I feel solely we will perceive the place we come from and our relationship. However even Pierre himself stated that we have saved the staff collectively in tough moments. And, , fortunately we have been there to avoid wasting the ship generally. It has been good to have moments like Brazil. Regardless that we’ve our historical past, that second will all the time be one thing that we each bear in mind as tremendous optimistic.

“From the place we come from, I do not assume anybody would have believed that we might be in the identical staff and on the rostrum in F1. It has been nice to expertise that collectively.

Esteban Ocon, Alpine, Pierre Gasly, Alpine

Photograph by: Lubomir Asenov / Motorsport Pictures

Given their animosity, it was nearly as if the entire world was ready for them to crash into one another. The restart crash on the 2023 Australian Grand Prix, whereas one of many central moments in Drive to Survive, did not actually add a lot to the dialogue of their relationship – it was clear that the 2 Alpine drivers simply occurred to seek out one another within the chaos of the late restart. However whereas that was written off as kind of a “racing incident”, the first-lap crash in Monaco final 12 months – this time clearly Ocon’s fault – was met with an outpouring of criticism in the direction of the motive force with a ‘historical past of crashing into his team-mates’.

“Regardless that Monaco occurred, it did not price the staff something,” he says now. “I raised my hand. I might have appreciated issues to have gone otherwise, for positive. However, yeah, we have finished our greatest each single time. And I feel, yeah, we received the utmost out of the automobile, , all through these two seasons.”

And whereas he will not elaborate a lot, he admits that it has been irritating to see a lot criticism on-line, particularly since not many have tried to essentially look into the so-called ‘historical past of crashing into his team-mates’.

“As quickly as there is a headline, individuals like to leap on it,” he says. “However yeah, what can I say? I feel, from my perspective, we did what we wanted to do [with each team] and took the alternatives once they got here. And we labored nicely collectively – with Pierre, with Fernando, with Daniel. We additionally labored nicely with Checo. We ticked the packing containers, in the long run. In order that’s crucial factor. And I am not a man who’s right here to crash into my team-mate. That is bullshit.”

Esteban Ocon, Haas F1 Staff

Photograph by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Pictures

“It’s what individuals take a look at. And when all people is, , laughing a few matter, individuals wish to comply with and bounce on the identical factor. However , with time, hopefully issues might be forgotten.”

Ocon is the primary to confess that he loves racing laborious. In spite of everything, like each different driver in F1, he is a extremely aggressive particular person. Had he been fortunate sufficient to get a profitable automobile, this tendency to struggle laborious with everybody – together with his team-mates – might have been seen as a mark of a future champion. To some extent he was seen that manner throughout his Pressure India days. However the subsequent step up by no means got here.

On some events, he in all probability wanted to be a bit extra cautious when it got here to racing a automobile of the identical color – however on the identical time, he would not be fallacious to level out that he is by no means had a simple team-mate throughout his time in F1. And with at the least a few of them having considerably bigger social media followings, he has in all probability offered a few of these followers with causes to not like him an excessive amount of.

Both manner, given the picture – justified or not – that has caught to him, Ocon in all probability is aware of he cannot afford to provide individuals any extra causes so as to add to that narrative. In his new chapter with Haas, for the primary time in his profession, he would be the clearly extra skilled driver. Now, it is the man on the opposite aspect of the storage who is available in with youth and an eagerness to show himself.

Esteban Ocon, Haas F1 Staff, Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Staff

Photograph by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Pictures

“Effectively, I do not actually give attention to that,” he says when requested whether or not he feels extra accountability at Haas now. “Certain, the staff depends on me for my expertise. And what I take into consideration issues generally is essential – for me to provide all of the suggestions very early, and for us to see what we have to enhance and the weaknesses of the automobile and the strengths of the automobile. And the staff was very receptive.

“However, , Ollie [Bearman] has extra expertise contained in the staff than I do! Clearly, I’ve received the years of racing expertise, however he is are available in as probably the most ready rookie you will be. And that is superb, as a result of I am positive we’ll push the staff ahead in a short time as soon as we get to the primary race, and that is going to be essential to get the utmost out of everybody.”

One factor is for positive: no matter his picture, Ocon has been employed by Haas to work for the staff. His new boss and long-time good friend Ayao Komatsu has praised how Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen managed to work collectively throughout their two-year stint with the staff, regardless of their very own historical past. And that is precisely what he expects from Ocon and Bearman.

For the Frenchman particularly, there might hardly be a greater alternative to show himself and dispel the popularity that has dogged him for thus lengthy.