Ocon: “Romain made a mistake and I paid the consequences”

All good things must come to an end. Such is the case for Esteban Ocon’s streak, who had seen the checkered flag in his first 27 Formula 1 starts. This streak, the fifth longest in Formula 1 history, ended as early as the sixth turn of this Brazilian Grand Prix, following a contact with his compatriot, Romain Grosjean.

The Sahara Force India driver clearly laid the blame on his rival: “I couldn’t do anything. Romain lost control of the car in turn 6 and hit me. He made a mistake and I paid the consequences. My front rim was damaged. I couldn’t have brought the car back to the pits.”

If his series in F1 was already impressive, his career record is all the more remarkable considering his last retirement was nearly three years ago: « I’m not happy about retiring from the race. I knew this day would come but I didn’t expect it to be today. It’s a shame because it had been almost three years since I last retired in single-seaters. »

For once quickly rid of his main rival, Sergio Perez still didn’t have an easy race due to an incident as early as the second corner: « Things got complicated on the first lap when Alonso pushed me into the second corner. I was on the grass and lost an additional place to Massa. It significantly penalized my race because I spent the whole afternoon trying to catch up. »

The team tried everything to help him regain those two lost positions, using an offset tire strategy. Having caught up to the exhaust of Fernando Alonso’s McLaren, he was never in a position to launch an attack as the Spanish driver benefited from the DRS by following Felipe Massa very closely.