Esteban Ocon took us back in time at Spa with a splendid double overtake on the Kemmel straight.
In reality, the Alpine F1 driver made two double overtakes during the Belgian Grand Prix: a first at the ‘bus stop’ chicane, where he passed both the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo and the Williams of Nicholas Latifi, which then allowed him to get into the points after starting at the back of the grid.
But it is the second that will undoubtedly remain in many memories: the Frenchman overtook both Sebastian Vettel and Pierre Gasly on the Kemmel straight, which was reminiscent of the legendary overtaking of Mika Häkkinen on Michael Schumacher in 2000, the Finn having at the time taken advantage of the presence of latecomer Ricardo Zonta to surprise his rival inside and win.
“I thought to myself that the DRS detection line was approaching and that Seb had passed Pierre too soon. At the time, I thought ‘oh no, Seb didn’t have the DRS so Pierre will have him,’ explained Ocon about his maneuver.
“From there, I lifted my foot slightly and took a little distance to take advantage of the straight line. Then I was surprised to see that Pierre did indeed have the DRS. I was like ‘ok, he there’s a new opportunity here’. So I went to the left of Seb, who gave me enough room, and I was able to pass Gasly on the outside thanks to my cooler tyres. So thanks guys!”
Ocon had also exchanged a few words with Mika Häkkinen just before the Grand Prix. Maybe that was why the French driver was so inspired in racing?
“Mika came to see me in the paddock and we talked just before the race! It was a good coincidence, he came to wish me good luck.”
A magnificent overtaking that almost never happened
This overtaking of Ocon will undoubtedly be one of the most beautiful of the season, even of the last years, but this one could never have happened since when he passed Ricciardo and Latifi before, the Alpine driver would have just as may well have seen his race end prematurely.
“It almost never happened because when I went outside Nicholas we almost touched. passed by deploying all the power of my battery under braking.”
“It was a really fun race. The car was extremely fast on the straights, so I was making sure I had the best possible timing when overtaking. After starting 16th on the grid, I expected to bring back a point but I finally got six. A very good result for us then.”
For Ocon, “it doesn’t matter” who will be his teammate at Alpine F1 in 2023
Although Fernando Alonso will leave Alpine F1 at the end of the season, the team did not seem at all destabilized at Spa and even increased their lead over McLaren, against whom they are fighting for fourth place in the constructors’ championship.
And while Ocon doesn’t yet know who his teammate will be in 2023, it doesn’t matter to him as long as his team meets its end-of-season goals.
“It doesn’t matter who you have on your side, for me it doesn’t change the face of the world. The most important thing is to stay focused, to lead my team and try to guide them on the right path, to help them to constantly improving and that’s what we do.”
“We are on the right track at the moment, we are scoring points, we are getting faster and faster from race to race and we can be proud of ourselves. So it is not on my mind at all. The most important is to keep us in fourth place. The team is fully focused on performance, that’s what we need.”