Esteban Ocon was a popular winner in the paddock when he claimed his maiden Formula One victory in Hungary at the weekend.
The 24-year-old Frenchman had not won in single seaters since 2015, when he raced in GP3, and few — if anyone — would have had money on him for a victory this year.
In a sport dominated by money and billionaires buying race seats for their sons, Ocon’s parents sold their family home in the north of France to live in a caravan and travel around Europe with their teenage son, wherever he needed to race.
Ocon, who is an only child, would finish a weekend of racing and then his parents would drive to his school, park outside the gates and sleep in the caravan for the week — and then, come the weekend, pack up and go racing again.
“I would have tried to work in McDonald’s because I had nothing else,” Ocon told The Times in 2017 when asked what he would have done without making it in motorsport.
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He grew up racing against fellow F1 drivers, including Pierre Gasly and Charles Leclerc, with whom he remains good friends.
In 2014, with Lotus, Ocon won the Formula Three European Championship, beating Max Verstappen, who was third. But then the money ran out and he came close to quitting his racing dream. That’s when he considered applying to flip burgers, until Mercedes picked him up and signed him to their young driver programme.
They placed him with Force India in 2017 but after two seasons he found himself replaced by Lance Stroll and had to sit out the 2019 season, acting as Mercedes’ reserve driver. When it became clear Mercedes could not offer him a seat last year, the two sides amicably split so Ocon could pursue a seat with Renault.
The French team offered him a two-year contract and he has now repaid their faith in him. He secured a podium last year, with second at the Sakhir GP, and has now gone one better to win in Hungary. Working alongside team-mate Fernando Alonso, there is much he can learn from the double world champion. He’s certainly taken on board the art of defensive driving.
It was a superb drive in Budapest, as he held off four-times world champion Sebastian Vettel, who fought Ocon hard for the lead.
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In reality, Ocon may not win many more races but he thoroughly deserved this victory.
