Formula 1’s newest rookie Esteban Ocon gave a good account himself on his debut at the Belgian Grand Prix at the sport’s most daunting venue Spa-Francorchamps.
Ocon said after his first Formula 1 race, “The race I think was quite good. We took the opportunity that was on track, putting some pressure on the guys in front and making my way through on the first lap. I think that was important to do, staying out of trouble.
“After that we broke a brake duct which made us lose a lot of time in the race so that wasn’t ideal and was very tough to finish on the tyres at the end but we still kept Nasr behind and I think that was the only one we were racing really.
“Not [close to] retiring, but it was just losing performance, losing aero. In the end that’s why it was so tough to finish with the tyres. I think one more lap and it could have been a disaster.”
“I think we degraded quite a lot but this brake duct affected us a lot, it’s something like almost one second per lap so it didn’t help.”
“I think with that we would have been more competitive and maybe taking the Renault would have been possible.”
“We also missed a pit stop which was seven seconds on one pit stop, so when [Jolyon] Palmer stopped and came out again I could have been in front of him when he put on the supersoft.”
“It would have been a different race. But with a lot of ifs you never get anywhere so we need to learn from that and keep moving forward.”
Team boss David Ryan said, “A mixed result today. On the one hand, a great debut by Esteban, who didn’t put a foot wrong all weekend.”
“He finished his first race in 16th place and I’m sure it will be an upward trajectory for him from here. I’m really looking forward to seeing how he gets on in Monza,” added Ryan.
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