Ocon hopes his bad luck ‘turns around’

Michelle Foster
Esteban Ocon

Esteban Ocon

Feeling as if Lady Luck is not on his side these days, Esteban Ocon hopes that “turns around” after twice being hit on the opening lap in Turkey.

Ocon failed to score for the fourth time in six races in Turkey on Sunday, although at least this time around he did see the chequered flag.

Starting P7 on the grid, he made a flying start as those around him twitched and squiggled only to be tagged by his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.

The Aussie was forced to move to avoid Lewis Hamilton, unfortunately making contact with the other Renault.

Pitched into a spin, Ocon dropped down the order only to be collected by Valtteri Bottas which caused a puncture, forcing the Frenchman to pit.

“Unfortunately, we got a flying start and that was a brilliant thing, it was probably the best I’ve had in the year,” he explained to Motorsport.com.

“Obviously I went to third, and I’ve had time to re-watch the video a little bit, and it’s just a very unfortunate incident obviously in Turn 1.

“Lewis was on the inside of Daniel and Daniel opens the steering. Then he touched me on the rear, and that what makes us spin.

“I got going again, and I was still in pretty good shape, but then I got hit by Valtteri into Turn 9, who missed the braking point again.

“So twice the same! But that time, I had to pit because of the puncture.”

Ocon finished P11.

“Even though no Safety Car, we still came back to P11,” he said. “We were a long way off [after the first lap] so the pace was very solid.

“And I think there was some good points on the table for us. It’s just I seem to have a lot of bad luck recently. I hope that will turn around.”

Esteban Ocon "determined" to get his season back on the right path in Bahrain.

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He reckons a top-six result would have been on the cards had it not been for his two first-lap incidents.

“I don’t think we could have held third place for very long, but at least we were looking good from there,” he said.

“Probably, yeah, P5 or P6 was a realistic target. I think with the pace we had, it would have been good to end up there.”

Ocon is P12 in the Drivers’ standings with 40 points, 56 behind his team-mate Ricciardo who is P6.

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