Bitter points for Esteban Ocon in Canada

For the third consecutive time this season, Esteban Ocon qualified in the Top 6. This good performance on Saturday was a very good omen for the race on Sunday. Overtaking Hülkenberg early in the race, the Évreux native was comfortably occupying the 5th position with a small gap ahead of the group of drivers behind him. On the 12th lap of the race, the Alpine driver dodged debris from George Russell’s car to move up to 4th position. Like many drivers, Ocon dove into the pits under the safety car regime. A decision that would have heavy consequences on his race.

4th virtually, Ocon came out in 9th position behind the two Ferraris, Sergio Perez, Valtteri Bottas, and Kevin Magnussen. Alfa Romeo and Haas were not able to keep up with the pace of the cars in front of them, and the one who climbed on the podium at the last Monaco Grand Prix was completely disconnected from the leading pack. Regaining his position from the Finnish and the Danish drivers, Alpine was following a particularly fast pace to catch up with Perez.

Stuck behind the Williams

But once again, the progress of Ocon will be erased by a second pit stop. Coming out 9th on the 37th lap of the race, Ocon was quickly catching up with the Mercedes of George Russell ahead of him. This manhunt, lasting 17 laps, was aborted by the British driver’s retirement on the 53rd lap. Ocon’s next target was none other than Alexander Albon’s Williams. Driving the slowest car on the grid with tires that were 40 laps old, the outcome of this duel seemed predetermined. It was David against Goliath. However, that was without counting on the Williams’ stratospheric top speed, which made it untouchable. In the end, Esteban Ocon tried everything to overtake Albon, but to no avail.

In addition to keeping his eyes on the rear wing of the Williams in front of him, the Frenchman also had to constantly monitor his mirrors. Despite his five-second penalty, Lando Norris was showing great aggressiveness in the last sector hairpin. After several attempts a few laps earlier, the Briton managed to pass the Alpine on the outside. Seeing the door closing, Norris backed off to position himself just behind Ocon and take advantage of his slipstream. The two men reached the entry of the final chicane side by side, but Norris chose to take the escape route rather than taking a risky move.

Bad strategy

Finally, despite his excellent pace, Esteban Ocon was caught out by an important factor: track position. The four drivers who finished ahead of him were all on a one-stop strategy. On a circuit where overtaking is not easy, his fourth position turned into an 8th place, leaving a taste of a race that was not completely under control.

« We have a slight bitter taste from this race where we were fourth before the pit stops. So we need to review what could have been done better because we find ourselves behind a Williams with an impressive top speed, slow in corners but very fast on straight lines. There was nothing we could do against it. I tried everything, I was glued in corners but at the end of straight lines, even with DRS, they had more speed. We knew before the race that we shouldn’t fall behind these Williams cars and unfortunately we did. »

Currently occupying the ninth position in the standings, Esteban Ocon can boast of having only an 8-point gap behind his friend and competitor, Lance Stroll.