Esteban Ocon told Sebastian Vettel he made a tactical error when the pair caught Pierre Gasly in a dramatic moment during the Belgian Grand Prix.
The trio ran three-abreast approaching Les Combes as they fought over seventh place. Ocon emerged ahead, followed by Gasly, as Vettel was passed on either side.The move unfolded after Vettel emerged from the pits behind Gasly on lap 34. He passed the AlphaTauri driver at the beginning of the next lap, and led his rival plus the chasing Ocon down to Eau Rouge.
When they emerged from Raidillon, Gasly and Ocon used DRS to pass Vettel. Ocon took both drivers in a single move, a feat he pulled off twice during the race.
“It was definitely good fun,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed the racing today, the car was extremely fast in a straight line, so I was managing the timing right about when to overtake.
“From where we started, I think 16th or 17th, we were expecting one point. We got six out of today, so definitely a good result for us.”
Ocon said he told Vettel afterwards he should have waited until later in the lap to pass Gasly, to avoid being caught by him
“I spoke to Seb and I was like, the [DRS] detection is there and he’s passing Pierre too early because he’s not going to get the DRS. I lifted the throttle a bit, got myself a little bit of a gap to be able to use the straight-line speed and then the surprise was, and the confirmation was, that Pierre had DRS.
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“So I was able to go on the left side. Seb was very fair, honestly, he could have closed a bit on the left which he didn’t do, and I managed to get down on the outside of five.”
While Vettel was satisfied by his finish he admitted “it could have in a position more” after being passed by Ocon. “That was a bit of a shame with Esteban, he was a bit too lucky to pick me up there.”
He said he was “a bit stuck” when he was caught by the pair as they reached the Kemmel straight. “I didn’t have DRS and I was running out of energy.
“So I just watched in the mirrors and at some point just tried to keep it in the middle to not be distracting because I knew I’d get eaten up.
“It was a bit unfortunate. I just missed to get a run on Pierre coming out of the pits. I don’t know, with a better in-lap or better pit stop, that half a second we could have picked him up straight away and then it’s a different story. So that was a bit of a shame.”
Vettel admitted he “picked it [the DRS] up too early” after passing Gasly. “So that was not great on my side and obviously then I was dead meat.”
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2022 Belgian Grand Prix
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BasCB (@bascb)
29th August 2022, 13:37
Yes, Ocon did it exactly how it works best, while Vettel should have lifted slightly to first get the DRS and only then push through.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
29th August 2022, 15:09
The action? Great! The premise, fake. The gimmick spoils everything.
CashNotClass (@cashnotclass)
29th August 2022, 17:22
It was so obvious what was going to happen that it all fell a bit flat. It’s predictable, fast food entertainment that nobody will remember after the next race, whereas people still bring up Häkkinen’s double-pass on Schumacher and Zonta here back in 2000 every time there’s an F1 race at Spa.
DRS is not necessary. The best racing this year has happened in places without it, or on laps where it wasn’t allowed to be used.
MattDS (@mattds)
29th August 2022, 20:53
@todfod why the negativity? First of all Ocon was right, secondly it’s good to have the drivers talking, discussing the races and the actions and overtakes they pull on each other. Just look at the cooldown room chat, that’s just cool to see. And why not have Ocon tell that to Seb?
And third, even though you might call Ocon a mediocre F1 driver, even a mediocre F1 driver is still an elite racing driver and they are all more than capable of giving driving advice and insight to anyone including their colleagues.
Lighten up.
MattDS (@mattds)
29th August 2022, 20:53
No idea why this got misposted :/
Todfod (@todfod)
29th August 2022, 16:15
Wow… Esteban Ocon, aka Mr.Mediocre, giving racing advice to a 4 time WDC on how to smartly use DRS to keep position. I guess getting this valuable advice from Ocon is probably the low point of Vettel’s career. If he wasn’t retiring already, surely he would have announced his retirement the day Ocon gives him racing advice.
MattDS (@mattds)
29th August 2022, 20:55
@todfod why the negativity? First of all Ocon was right, secondly it’s good to have the drivers talking, discussing the races and the actions and overtakes they pull on each other. Just look at the cooldown room chat, that’s just cool to see. And why not have Ocon tell that to Seb?
And third, even though you might call Ocon a mediocre F1 driver, even a mediocre F1 driver is still an elite racing driver and they are all more than capable of giving driving advice and insight to anyone including their colleagues.
Lighten up.
(Copy from above)
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
29th August 2022, 18:47
TOO SOON JUNIOR!
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
29th August 2022, 18:50
In all seriousness, considering how clever Seb was defending Hamilton in 2018 I think it was, lifting through Eau Rouge to force Lewis into losing a bit of momentum, it’s further testament that he’s not as much into it as he once was. Not trying to bash him, it’s just natural that after announcing his retirement he’d take things less serious.
superman
30th August 2022, 8:33
DRS needs to go! Its no longer needed and is actually now negatively affecting driving skill.
baasbas
30th August 2022, 8:50
This is wrong on multiple levels. First of all this shows Vettel should have left F1 sooner. I loved it when he overtook cars in the pit entry over the grass because he was aware of the speed limit line. He should have known this himself. Second: while Ocon played the DRS game, but as they say “don’t hate the player”: I hate the game. I hate it when it obviously goes wrong when Verstappen and Hamilton fought over it. But I also hate the subtle implications. Don’t attempt an overtake because there is a DRS zone coming up. Don’t need to get creative. In fact, if you’d get past by being creative you’ll just end up getting punished because you just gave the other driver DRS on you.
FS005
30th August 2022, 22:37
Don’t think Vettel really expected Ocon to be that close and Gasly was pretty slow putting the power down. Tricky situation that is easy in hindsight but you obviously can’t have two drivers lifting off on the run to the Kimmel Straight. Better get overtaken than a 5s penalty for erratic driving.
Although it was pretty much Aston Martin once again dropping the ball on strategy that resulted in this situation. Both Gasly and Ocon got multiple laps of undercut to Vettel. From 5s to Ocon the gap reduced to less than 2s.