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Esteban Ocon has hailed Renault's race pace at the British Grand Prix, stating it was a “nice surprise” to fight cars that the team believed would be quicker.
Ocon crossed the finish line in sixth place, taking his best result of the season, while teammate Daniel Ricciardo was fourth in the sister car.
The Frenchman managed to pass Sebastian Vettel at the start of the race, as the Ferrari driver's struggles continued. Ocon says that it was “quite something” to overtake the four-time world champion, but says there must be an emphasis on improving qualifying pace going forward.
“It really proves that we need to qualify further up to make our lives easier on Sunday. Today we managed to overtake cars that we thought were quick,” Ocon said.
“[A] great job by both sides in Viry and Enstone. It's always a nice surprise. You can be sure that you're going to be that competitive but passing Sebastian was quite something. We were quick today.”
Towards the end of the race, Ocon managed to overtake the Racing Point of Lance Stroll after following him for a large portion of the race.
“The car was awesome, I have to say. Especially on those hard tyres, I was very happy on those. I saw Lance was starting to slow down and I thought my chance is going to come.
“To have a fight and pass the Racing Point, who are quicker than us since the beginning of the year, it's great satisfaction. There's been a lot of work that went through last week.
“We were not happy with how Budapest went, but we've turned that around today. Now I think what we can improve is qualifying again. If we do that, the car is great in the race.”
Ocon has two top-ten finishes to his name so far in 2020 and currently sits 11th in the drivers' championship.
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Replies (5)
Login to replyajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
It was a good race, but it's also clear that he has absolutely nothing on Ricciardo. I expect next year for Fernando to do the same but with much more gravitas than easy-going Danny Ric
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
yeah I agree. And if it isn't via raw pace, it's because Alo will make sure the car fits his needs, regardless of his team mates desires.
greatbigdong
Posts: 53
Hi is right - Renault really need to do something with qualifying - but I suspect it has a lot to do with the engine modes available on the engine where they simply cant turn it up as high as the others for a couple of quick laps - it would also explain why they cant easily overtake in races even when their general pace is much better - the engine lacks that extra 20-50HP for short periods that the other engines can give.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
to some extent you are correct. Fortunately for them, Renault did keep pace with their rivals Merc and Honda, while also gaining a lot on Ferrari, so they are still on track, PU-wise.
xoya
Posts: 583
Ocon's racing really suffered a lot from his year out.
Hopefully he can get his pace back this year and come back stronger the next.
It would be a shame that a retiree puts a nail in his carreer's coffin, and this is coming from an Alonso fan.