Renault’s Esteban Ocon has revealed that he was in tears when he crossed the finish line to claim his first Formula 1 podium in Bahrain on Sunday.
After starting the Sakhir Grand Prix from outside the top ten, Ocon gradually made his way through the field and found himself running in fourth on lap 60.
With Mercedes getting into trouble and dropping out of podium contention with both cars, Ocon was promoted to second place behind eventual race-winner Sergio Perez, where he would remain until the chequered flag.
Ocon says that “all the emotions” that have built up throughout his career came bursting out after he secured his maiden top-three finish.
“What a journey. What a difficult journey to arrive here – a lot of sacrifices from my early days,” Ocon said.
“Not easy to get into F1 and I stopped, obviously, last year. Not easy to get back in as well. New team, strong team-mate against me and we were seeing the progress this year.
“It was coming but it never really paid off until today. Today we made it happen. Very pleased. I think this is what was waiting around but we didn’t get the luck we wanted each time.
“Such a cool race – and congratulations to Checo and also to Lance [Stroll], my mate, we had a good fight together through Turn 4.
“It was good fun, I really enjoyed that race. All the emotions that came when I crossed that line.
“Unbelievable. I never cried for anything but I tell you, today, the tears, they came, and they came for a good reason. So I’m really happy.”
Ocon added that the data before the start of the race suggested a top-five finish could be possible, as he would be starting on an alternative tyre to those in front.
“We knew what we are going to do with the strategy, coming from outside the top ten, free choice of tyres and that was very interesting for a race like this,” Ocon said.
“The graphs were showing that we were going to be coming in the top five, that it was going to be a very strong comeback and the guys on more stops were going to be struggling a bit.
“But yeah, we never thought, obviously, that we were going to come this close to the win even. It’s been an awesome race.”
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