2
Esteban Ocon admits that it was “quite a shock” to hear about the cancellation of the Australian Grand Prix earlier this month, hours before the first free practice session was set to get underway.
After all ten teams arrived in Melbourne two weeks ago, a member of the McLaren team tested positive for COVID-19, which put the event in major doubt.
On the morning of the first two practice sessions, it was announced that the event would not go ahead and the start of the season was delayed.
Since Australia's announcement, six races have been postponed while Monaco has confirmed that its race will not be held in 2020.
MORE: Ricciardo upset by Monaco cancellation: 'That one hurt me'
In a column for Formula1.com, Ocon wrote: “It was quite a shock to receive the news when I woke up on Friday to be leaving the race. I went to sleep quite early on the Thursday night.
“When I woke up, I was about to go in the shower and I saw tonnes of messages from Cyril and many other people saying someone from McLaren had tested positive and the race was compromised.
“It was a big shock. I was half asleep, half-awake, so it was tricky to fully understand the situation.”
Ocon arrived at Albert Park wearing a black face mask, asserting that he wanted to take every precaution availble in order to race, having not done so since Abu Dhabi in 2018.
“I found Australia pretty strange,” he stated. “I decided to wear a mask when I arrived and left the track on Thursday.
“It was well over 450 days since I last arrived at a race weekend in preparation for a race and I wanted to take every measure possible to not miss out, it’s been too long. I’ve trained this whole time and I wanted to be as strong as possible.
“So I thought it would be best to be cautious with what’s happening and be sensible for others. Of course, it’s out of all our hands with what’s going on, but I wanted to make sure I was doing all I could to be ready. I didn’t want anything stopping me from racing again.”
Grand Prix of BelgiumLocal time
Grand Prix of BelgiumLocal time
Bahrain International Circuit - Winter testing
M. Verstappen
C. Sainz jr
C. Leclerc
Bahrain
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
Saudi Arabia
Jeddah Street Circuit
Australia
Albert Park
Japan
Circuit Suzuka
United States of America
Miami International Autodrome
Monaco
Monte Carlo
Canada
Gilles Villeneuve
Spain
Circuit de Catalunya
Austria
Red Bull Ring
United Kingdom
Silverstone
Hungary
Hungaroring
Belgium
Spa-Francorchamps
Netherlands
Circuit Zandvoort
Italy
Monza
Azerbaijan
Baku City Circuit
Singapore
Marina Bay Street Circuit
United States of America
Circuit of the Americas
Mexico
Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
Brazil
Interlagos
United States of America
Las Vegas Street Circuit
United Arab Emirates
Yas Marina Circuit
61,896 comments on Alpine F1
2 members have this team as their favourite
Tweets about Esteban Ocon
236,923 comments on Renault 27 members have this team as their favourite Tweets about Renault
Replies (2)
Login to replyDert38
Posts: 377
"NANO" Ocon nocon...
essaouira311
Posts: 158
Hey, kid... You' re being funny...
Look at yourself first, and then, if the world still goes round and round, you' ll have ALL the time for racing...