Ocon over the moon about F1 debut
Esteban Ocon could not stop smiling when he spoke about the contract with Manor F1 Team which enables him to make his debut in the leading motorsport series. The Frenchman has already started his preparation work for his first race weekend when we is going to replace Rio Haryanto.
Manor’s race driver Rio Haryanto’s place has been in doubt for a couple of weeks as his financial backing did not transfer the money needed to the team. It meant the Indonesian was unable to meet his contractual obligations.
The Team decided to terminate Haryanto’s contract, but it offered him a reserve driver role for the remainder of the current season.
Haryanto’s replacement is Esteban Ocon whose debut is going to take place on the difficult high-speed circuit of Spa. The 19-year-old Frenchman is amazed to take on the biggest challenge of his racing career.
“I’m thrilled that I’ll be making my Grand Prix debut with Manor Racing later this month, and at Spa, of all circuits, which is the next best thing to my home race,” said Ocon.
Ocon has experienced an interesting situation this year. He was backed by Mercedes and raced for the German marque in this year’s DTM championship. However, he was test driver at Renault after Mercedes allowed him to gain real F1 experiences in the French team.
“I’m ready for this exciting step up, thanks to the experience I’ve gained as a Formula 1 Reserve Driver this season. I’d like to thank Renault Sport F1 Team and Mercedes-Benz for working together to make this happen, and to Manor Racing for the opportunity, which I’m going to grab with both hands.
Ocon’s signing has been a hot topic at Manor for long time which is also showed by the fact that he has already completed a seat fitting.
“I’ve visited the Manor Technical Centre already, for my seat fit and to meet with the wider team, so we’ll be ready to hit the ground running after the summer break. They’ve done a great job this season and I’m excited that I’ve been tasked with helping them to build on that progress. I can’t wait to get started!”“
Esteban Ocon was born in Evreux in 1996. The Frenchman started his racing career in Formula Renault 2.0 in 2012 where he grabbed third place in the following year. He then joined the FIA F3 series where he won the title in his debut year. Last year he joined the GP3 field. He won the title with only one win. He also served duties for Force India as test driver in 2015. Ocon started his touring car career with Mercedes backing in DTM this year and also tested for Renault F1 Team.
