Esteban Ocon is embarking on his eighth season in Formula 1, having earned a reputation as a ‘difficult’ teammate during his tenure in the premier class. The Frenchman has been involved in multiple on-track collisions with teammates, including incidents with Sergio Pérez at Force India and Pierre Gasly at Alpine. “I think things have been blown out of proportion,” Ocon defends himself.
“When I saw it happen, I wasn’t surprised,” said Daniel Ricciardo following the clash between then-teammates Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly at the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix. By that point, Ocon had built up quite a reputation for colliding with his teammates. Previous incidents with former teammates Sergio Pérez and Fernando Alonso reinforce this image of the Frenchman, but according to Ocon himself, his reputation is undeserved.
“I think things have been blown out of proportion,” the Frenchman defends himself in an interview with Motorsport.com. “Of course, there have been some incidents. But looking back, I always tried to work well with my team and teammate. Whether it was Sergio, Daniel, Fernando, or Pierre, I have worked well with all of them. There were some incidents, but overall, it wasn’t too bad.”
Pérez
The Frenchman is then confronted with the fact that there have been five incidents with his former teammates. “Were there really five?” a surprised Esteban Ocon asks. “I remember all of them, of course. It just happened a few times (a crash), because we were racing closely.”
The collaboration with Sergio Pérez, in particular, did not always go smoothly. According to former team boss Otmar Szafnauer, Force India even had to threaten the two drivers with a grid penalty to prevent them from colliding with each other. “I have a lot of respect for Checo,” Ocon seems to be apologizing to the departed Mexican. “It was a pleasure to be his teammate.”
