Esteban Ocon believes that improved “collaboration” with Renault has played a key part in his improving form compared to team-mate Daniel Ricciardo in recent race weekends.
While Ocon has still yet to outqualify his team-mate in dry conditions, with his only Saturday ‘victory’ in the wet session for the second race of the season at the Red Bull Ring, his average deficit has been narrowing recently.
In Portugal, he was 0.133s slower than Ricciardo having been just 0.019s slower in the previous event at the Nurburgring, which has lowered his average dry-weather deficit to 0.260s for the season.
He also beat Ricciardo in a straight fight for the first time when both have finished this year with an eighth-place finish, albeit with the assistance of being able to start on mediums and run long having missed out on a Q3 place whereas his team-mate had to start on softs, given the Australian spun when he slipped behind in the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix at Silverstone.
There have been signs that the relationship between Ocon, who has returned to F1 after a season on the sidelines as Mercedes reserve driver, and Renault was strained at times this year – notably at Monza where team principal Cyril Abiteboul had to tell his driver “this is not the place” to complain about the strategy calls after the chequered flag.
Admittedly, given Ocon had run ahead of Gasly early on and then seen the AlphaTauri driver win the race, his frustration was understandable and speaking later that day he withdrew his criticism once he’d understood how the race played out. But recent progress supports Ocon’s claim that things are gelling well.
“I’m not sure it’s been my best weekend, but I would say it’s been the best collaboration that we’ve had,” said Ocon when asked about his Portuguese Grand Prix performance.
“To give you a simple example, I was thinking about having some information at a certain moment, and 10 seconds later I was getting that information without asking. That’s a point where you’re seeing a lot of improvements.
“We’re working a lot better and the build-up has been stronger as well. In terms of an overall weekend, even if our performance was not as good as we were hoping for, I definitely think it’s been stronger.”
While Ocon is still very much the second driver at Renault and has only half the number of points Ricciardo does – 40 compared to 80 – the quality of his team-mate and the unusual rapidfire nature of the season has made the challenge of adapting more difficult.
But recent upward trend is encouraging and Ocon feels he is close to outqualifying Ricciardo given the narrow margins between the two.
“I’m definitely happier with the pace we’ve shown recently,” said Ocon when asked by The Race about his qualifying pace.
“I’m a bit frustrated that it or it’s always on the same side. When you have hundredths in the Nurburgring and just one tenth here, it can go either way. I’m a lot happier with the way we work with my side of the garage how we are understanding the weekend and just building up. It’s a lot better since a couple of events, so we’ll keep that going.”
Ocon is a driver with significant ability and potential whose reputation has suffered a little given his early struggles against Ricciardo. But what he says about the way the weekends are evolving is reflected in the fact he seems a little more at one with the car.
At times earlier this year, he was more ragged but is getting closer to the more smooth style he favours on corner entry in particular.
While he still has more improvements to make, the final five events of the season will give him the chance to get as close to Ricciardo’s level as possible.
And he knows he needs to make the most of this run of races given he will face tough opposition from new team-mate Fernando Alonso in 2021 after being a little surprised by the struggles of the first part of the season.
“It’s a long process,” says Ocon. ”Starting back after been off for a year, with a new team, there’s a lot that you need to learn and get going into. Also, learning that car which is very different to what I’m used to before.
“It’s getting there, we’re getting closer, that’s a very good thing. Obviously there’s a couple more races to go, my personal target is to get even closer, and of course, I want to use those opportunities to prepare myself the best way possible for next year.”
