Esteban Ocon: I’ve fulfilled my first objectives&;
On his first day as an F1 regular, Esteban Ocon did not miss his debut. He clearly dominated Pascal Wehrlein in the first session, before Wehrlein set the 11th fastest time in the second.
By placing its two protégés in the same team, Mercedes knows it will fuel competition between them. Manor should benefit from this as it should push the team upwards, as today has demonstrated. Indeed, in the morning, Esteban Ocon was able to set the 16th fastest time, one second ahead of his teammate. The latter quickly responded in the afternoon, managing the feat of setting the 11th fastest time of the session.
The Frenchman could therefore consider himself satisfied with his first day as a starter: « “A superb day. As a starter, it’s something special. There are many more demands. There’s also an additional practice session. Usually, I do short stints, but here I also had to do long stints to prepare for the race. I also had to get used to working with a new team.” »
In the end, he believes he achieved his initial objectives for the day: “Yes, I think we can say they are fulfilled. My speed was good this morning. This afternoon, I had a different program from Pascal.” This explains why the gap leaned towards the German this time, who was having an excellent performance, as the Frenchman had to focus on long-distance runs while Pascal Wehrlein could conduct more in-depth qualifying simulations.
The young Frenchman logically referred to his morning performance: « “It’s a good thing. It shows that I have adapted well to the car. Now, I will have to learn a lot from it to be very close to it tomorrow in qualifying. That’s where it counts.” »
From our special correspondent at Spa-Francorchamps
