Start, Istanbul Park, 2020

Ocon made “best start this year” before being hit twice on lap one

RaceFans Round-up

Posted on

| Written by

In the round-up: Esteban Ocon says he made the best start of his season so far before being hit twice on the first lap.

What they say

Ocon made a rapid start from seventh on the grid, but his race went awry quickly:

A very tricky race, unfortunately. We got a flying start and that was a brilliant thing. It’s probably the best start I’ve had in the year.

Obviously went to third. I’ll have to re-watch the video a little bit, it’s just a very unfortunate incident obviously in turn one. Lewis [Hamilton] was on the inside of Daniel [Ricciardo] and Daniel opened the steering and then touched me on the rear and that made us spin.

I got going again and was still in pretty good shape – a bit worse shape, but still pretty good shape. And then I got hit by Valtteri [Bottas] into turn nine who missed the braking point, again. So twice the same but that time I had to pit because of the puncture.

So that compromised my race completely. Even though no Safety Car or nothing, I still came back 11th, a long way off. So the pace was very solid. And I think there was some good points on the table for us today. It’s just I seem to have a lot of bad luck recently. I hope that will turn around.

Quotes: Dieter Rencken

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Social media

Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Comment of the day

There were many words of praise for Lewis Hamilton today – this was one of many excellent comments paying tribute to his achievement:

Seven titles! Wow! This achievement is not to be scoffed at. It is evident by observing the emotions of many a world champion when they have just won the title, how much it takes out of them. It was certainly evident today. To be able to have the stamina to sustain the focus through seven successful title challenges is truly remarkable (not to mention the other close but unsuccessful title challenges).

It obviously takes a significant amount of time to win this number of titles. Time over which Formula 1 can change significantly. For me, one of the things that makes Lewis Hamilton so great, is how he’s evolved as F1 has changed over the years. Think of how much F1 has changed since Hamilton joined the sport; from the sprint racing in small, light cars with grooved tyres during the refuelling era; through the 2009 aero changes, with slick tyres, double diffusers and KERS. F-ducts, blown diffusers, coanda exhausts and FRIC have come and gone. Designed to degrade tyres, DRS, long, heavy, wide cars with turbo-hybrid engines remain.

He’s come a long way since we saw the blindingly quick, fearless young charger burst onto the scene. Great champions learn a lot from the times when they have been unsuccessful. I think that he’s really taken on board the lessons from 2010, 2011 and 2016 in particular, and I think those lessons have significantly contributed to his polished performances of recent times. Today’s performance was the epitome of skilful race management from the cockpit, essentially a demonstration of how much Hamilton has grown as a driver, and such a fitting way to see an exceptional talent win the title for a seventh time. A champion that I feel truly privileged to see. Congratulations Lewis.
Dom (@3dom)

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Craig, Cduk_Mugello and Ashwin!

If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is via the contact form or adding to the list here.

On this day in F1

  • Born on this day in 1973: Red Bull team principal Christian Horner

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

7 comments on “Ocon made “best start this year” before being hit twice on lap one”

  1. Both the Renaults got of the line really well. Dan was balked badly by a Racing Point that didn’t and from that point he was stuck with nowhere to go.

    With things so close in the battle for 3rd, it did some huge damage though with Renault losing 2 positions in the standings because of it.

  2. Having watched many re runs of the overhead shots Hamilton pushed Ricciardo wide where he inadvertently tapped Ocon who shouldn’t really have been there as there was no way he was going to make an outside pass around the outside in those conditions, in a million years. Ocon should’ve played a less aggressive game as he was not going to win the race from there. At the worst a racing incident but it did nothing to enhance Renault’s attempt to take third in the constructors. Ocon is getting too antsy as a result of his less than expected performances this year.

  3. I have liked Haas from the beginning for their underdog fighting spirit and sense of fun, but is seems as if they are not even trying anymore.

    Going into weekends with an attitude of “it will be another tough weekend, really nothing we can do about it“, doing no development, not addressing known problems like the abysmal pitstops, not fixing faults on the car (think Magnussens gearbox at Imola), not trying any off-the-wall strategy gambles, retiring the car with a few laps to go, as if to get an early start on packing up and leaving.

    I get the feeling that they either have given up, or already know that they will be sold off, not to be a racing team anymore, but an expensive amusement park ride for billionaire kids.

    It is really depressing to watch a team that came in with a fire in the belly deflate like this.

  4. +7 for CoTD.

    Lewis is a worthy 7 time champ and what a drive for the win!

  5. Yes we know Ocon was a victim at the start, but his selfishness is what got him into trouble.
    Just looking at the shot, he isn’t making any attempt to leave much room for any car or cars that might be on his inside especially on a wet and greasy track. Look at Bottas’ line, he left enough space for all on his inside.

  6. A real honour to be given COTD after such a landmark victory 😊

Comments are closed.