Youth challenges
Flashback: we are in 2014, the European Formula 3 championship. The battle for the titles is between three drivers: two of these are debutants in the category, separated by exactly one year of age difference and both ambitious and eager to climb the pyramid of motorsport to be able to get to F1 one day. The title is won by the larger of the two, Esteban Ocon, while the other finishes the championship in third place, also behind the British Tom Blomqvist. Is called Max Verstappen.
The Frenchman is among the few riders who can say they have beaten the three-time world champion in a direct challenge for the title. Compared to ten years ago, however, the careers of the two took very different turns: while Verstappen continues to destroy records at the wheel of Red Bull, Ocon has only won one GP so far and is permanently languishing in the mid-table positions, without ever having had a means of being able to compete on equal terms with Verstappen and the other talents he grew up with in his karting days, such as Charles Leclerc.
“Title car and Le Mans in the future“
“It's a pain, for sure – admitted Ocon in an interview with the site RacingNews365 referring to the impossibility of challenging drivers on the track with whom he rivaled as a child – but I'm still working as if we had to aim for victories and podiums every weekend. My goal is to get the best out of the car every weekend. I believe that if I work hard and do well on the track, my time will come. One day I will have a car that I can compete with for championships and victories. I can't wait for it to arrive“.
However, as a good Frenchman, for Ocon there is also another desire for the future, which also in this case links him to Verstappen Leclerc: to one day take part in the legendary 24 hours of Le Mans. “Will I compete there? One day. Never say never, but at the moment obviously I'm focused on Formula 1. It's clear that Le Mans is a phenomenal race and it would be nice if they could schedule it not in conjunction with F1. If one F1 driver made the leap, many others would follow. But that's something for the future“, concluded Ocon.
#Ocon #future #day #title #car
