Prost helping Ocon to fulfil his potential

Esteban Ocon has opened up on the role Alain Prost is playing in his quest to emulate his fellow Frenchman as a World Champion.

Prost is the only French driver ever to have captured the F1 World Championship, doing so on four occasions between 1985 and 1993.

‘The Professor’ is now a non-executive director of the Renault team for which Ocon drives, with the 23-year-old having returned to the grid this year for his third full F1 season after competing for Force India in 2017 and 2018 and Manor in the last nine races of 2016.

Tipped for the top after winning the GP3 Series in 2015, Ocon has yet to make a real impact since joining Renault with P8 in the season-opening Austrian Grand Prix his best result of 2020 so far.

But he is taking on board the help of Prost in his mission to reach the pinnacle of the sport.

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Asked during an interview with Crash.net about his potential to become World Champion, Ocon said: “Yes, I believe I can do it, definitely. The good thing is I often have Alain on the phone, he’s giving me tips.

“Alain has the key of success and his words and advice are so important. I definitely want to follow his path and how he works, and everything he gives me is a boost to my career and to my way of working. Even if I could have half of his career it would be an amazing result.”

In terms of what he has learned from Prost, Ocon added: “He has given a lot of advice and we are very often in touch.

“Just on the work ethic, I think Alain has been very, very good at guiding me, as well as how to settle into the team. If I needed some help on some stuff, he was there. I’m definitely working on that side.

“It’s a very important year for me being my comeback year. It’s also my first year with a works team, a big team. I’m not putting pressure on myself for this to be the year I need to impress, I’m just trying to do my job the best I can and hopefully it will work out.”

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