Esteban Ocon, Renault, Monza, 2020

Ocon: “Awesome” to see reaction in France to Gasly’s win

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In the round-up: Esteban Ocon says he was pleased to see the positive response in his home country to the breakthrough win by fellow French driver Pierre Gasly.

What they say

Gasly had run behind Ocon prior to his unexpected win at Monza earlier this month:

It’s awesome to see how the community of France have reacted to that. It’s great. Of course, there hasn’t been a French winner for so long so we are really pleased that Pierre has done that.

Of course, I would have preferred for it to be me, but well done to him. It was not easy and of course he did a fantastic job. I did send him a text on Tuesday saying ‘congratulations, you did a great job’. So let’s let’s hope we have a few more of those in the short future.

Quotes: Dieter Rencken

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Comment of the day

Does Lance Stroll get more criticism than he deserves?

Stroll seems to grey a lot of flak for the fact that daddy bought him an F1 team, in my mind though this isn’t really any different to many other pay drivers who get funding from their family or other big business to but their way into the sport. Perez for instance is loved by fans but also by teams because of the amount of sponsorship money he brings with him. Strolls situation is just more obvious and up front because of the family connection.

I can understand a general dislike of drivers effectively being able to buy themselves into the sport rather than being about the best drivers but lets be realistic, motorsport costs a lot of money so one way or another you need that money to get into the upper levels, irrespective or where or who it comes from.
@Wonderbadger

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8 comments on “Ocon: “Awesome” to see reaction in France to Gasly’s win”

  1. Re COTD F1 has always been a place were the rich can buy their way in. Yachting, Polo, Offshore Powerboat racing, Horse racing have always been considered a rich mens sports. But money doesn’t necessarily buy success, you still need at least some talent. Stroll may not be the next Hamilton but he’s shown that he can be a midfield competitor in the right car, so maybe people should just get off his back.

    1. I think the difference between Perez now, and Stroll right now is that Perez has gone from “mexican pay driver” to the guy who proved himself with countless instances of getting a car to the finish on tyres others would have already had to ditch for a new set @john-h. And getting a Sauber to the podium only narrowly missing out on a race win. And getting FI/RP a lot of podiums against the odds.

      So yeah, I am sure that with Strolls talent there is all the chance that we will be looking at him in a similar way in 4 or 6 years from now. A guy who had the talent to bring the goods home, even if not quite championship or regular race winner material.

    2. I agree except for one thing, the Ferrari Driver Academy. I’m going to assume one is enrolled/inducted on merit, I don’t that one can buy their way in. The fact that Perez was a part of it for a bit makes him more prestigious, in my eyes. But Checo’s crowning achievements are most definitely his scrappy podiums! Those races were David vs Goliath in a lot of cases.

      1. @rpiian except that Lance was also in the Ferrari Driver Academy between 2010 and 2015

  2. I couldn’t agree more with the COTD. He most certainly isn’t the only one who’s come in with considerable financial backing supporting his career. Him, his current teammate, Latifi, Gutierrez, Nasr, and Maldonado come to my mind as a few examples of drivers labeled as ‘pay-drivers’ to any extent, although even the most successful ones had to have some backing behind them to get up the latter.

    1. Yeah, and where are they? Gutierrez is out of F1 after 3 bad seasons, Maldonado was out of a drive despite being a race winner, and Nasr was kicked out of Sauber despite beating Ericsson two years in a row.

      Stroll might be “delivering the goods” now, but lets not forget he was 7 tenths off Massa’s pace in 2017 (who was generally slower than Bottas), and was outqualified (and didn’t do that much better in the races) by Sirotkin, a rookie who wasn’t even given a second season.

      How many drivers can be so wildly off-the-pace in their first season, barely beat a rookie who didn’t get a second chance in their second season, and somehow manage to land a drive in a better car? Most drivers need to prove themselves to get better drives, even if they are pay drivers. Stroll somehow went from the worst team to the best midfielder.

  3. If you turn on the YouTube close caption, the auto generated text tells you that M4 engine sound is music.

  4. Wait, Ocon came too?

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