Esteban Ocon, Renault, Nurburgring, 2020

Ocon facing ‘jump into the unknown’ having not run medium tyres yet

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In the round-up: Esteban Ocon expects he will be “jumping into the unknown” when he pits to change tyres in today’s race having only run the soft compound so far.

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What they say

Ocon will start the race on softs but isn’t sure what to expect after he pits:

I think we are jumping a bit in the unknown tomorrow, unfortunately. We did run only the soft tyres actually on my side. So I don’t really know what to expect when we are going to change compound and how the car is going to behave. So fingers crossed is going to be okay.

In cold conditions the graining could be could be a factor like we’ve seen in some cars in practice. But we are usually pretty good in the race. The struggle is going to be for everyone if it is and we are in a good position to start the race, so let’s see.

Quotes: Dieter Rencken

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Comment of the day

Should Racing Point have taken notice of Lance Stroll’s symptoms sooner?

If he’s been sick for a while it makes you question why Hulkenberg wasn’t on standby, at the track and the team could have ran him yesterday (if the fog hadn’t been an issue).

As a minimum you’d want him to run final practice.
Kris Lord

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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...

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6 comments on “Ocon facing ‘jump into the unknown’ having not run medium tyres yet”

  1. I’ll give Stroll and RP a pass on subbing Hulk late. With Friday practice cancelled the team most likely thought that the extra rest would improve Stroll’s condition. If the Friday practice was held, Stroll’s actual condition would have been noticed sooner so the cancellation worked against RP.

    1. By not having a backup plan though, they lost practice time, and performance in qualifying.
      In the top tier category, not having a backup plan is pretty poor.

      1. I heard Otto mention that SVD was the nominated reserve so perhaps SVD’s seat was sent to the track and Hulk’s needed to be shipped in.

      2. Yup pretty poor, they also have their real backup driver on standby… What kind of deal is that?

      3. @scottie @drycrust I’d say it’s borderline unacceptable, especially as they knew Stroll was unwell for two weeks. If you think how much Hülkenberg could have prepared in two weeks…

    2. I think the more important factor isn’t so much what notice they gave Nico to get to the race track, but whether or not he is race fit. If he is, then the race will be much more comfortable than if he isn’t race fit.

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