Ocon on ‘not so good’ atmosphere with Perez

Mark Scott
Esteban Ocon wants to be on the podium in 2020.

Esteban Ocon wants to be on the podium in 2020.

Esteban Ocon is hoping to avoid replicating a “not so good atmosphere” that he had with Sergio Perez as he makes his return to the grid.

It became a matter of when Ocon and Perez collided, rather than if, back in their fiercely competitive Force India days which led to the team having to intervene by imposing team orders between the duo.

As Ocon develops a new team-mate relationship with Daniel Ricciardo at Renault, he wants to avoid a similar situation developing throughout the 2020 season.

“What happened at Force India is not something I want to redo again,” Ocon told Formula 1’s official website.

“It was not a nice atmosphere. We had respect – me and Checo – and it didn’t slow down the team or anything but the atmosphere between us was not so good.

“On track we came close too many times, that was clear, and that was not good.

“It’s not something I want to do again. The atmosphere is definitely a lot better between me and Daniel than it was with Checo.

“So if we can keep working like that, even though it’s going to be different on track, it’s going to be a lot better for everyone to have a positive energy and a great working environment.

“Hopefully we’re going to be solid on that topic and be able to push the team forward. But no, we don’t want to have that happening.

“Of course it can always happen at the start or something, but in a race like it happened it was not acceptable.”

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