Esteban Ocon has revealed that he was ill during the Mexico City Grand Prix weekend, leaving him to deal with “one of the toughest races” he’s ever had in Formula 1.
Despite his struggles, Ocon still crossed the line in the points, securing ninth, while his team-mate, Oliver Bearman, matched Haas’ best-ever result with fourth place.
“Yeah, I was sick last week, yeah. It was quite bad,” Ocon told media including Motorsport Week in Brazil.
“It took me quite a while to recover, to be honest. I’m not the one to shout that I’m sick all around, but yeah, it was probably one of the toughest races I’ve ever done.”
Ocon admitted that it was as the race went on that he began to feel worse, with the closing stages becoming “torture” inside the cockpit of his Haas VF-25.
“The last 15 laps were torture, to say the least,” he continued.
“But yeah, we still completed it, we still got points for the team, and that was the important one. Quite strange to be sick that early in the year, to be honest.
“But there were a lot of people in the paddock that were, and in our team as well.
“Long seasons are quite tough on those, and hopefully now I’m immune for the rest of the winter and for next year.”
The cold didn’t just hit the Frenchman in for the Mexico City GP; Ocon divulged that, with the busy schedule, he was confined to his hotel room to rest between races.
“It was a big cold between Austin and Mexico,” he divulged.
“I stayed two or three days in the room, just sleeping as much as I could, at temperature and stuff like that, so it was quite bad.
“It’s one of those things that you can’t control, unfortunately.
“I mean, it took me a while in the week to recover, but I still managed to put some decent training in.
“But yeah, it was the one that hit me up quite hard, which, yeah, it was a bad surprise, to be honest.”
Ocon hoping Haas can end the season in style
Despite the concerns about his health and his preparation being impacted, Ocon had good things to say about his hopes to back up his strong showing this weekend.
“It was good. We had a very, very good race car in Mexico. We were quite strong in the traction zone. We were about to fight, we were about to put pressure on others.
“Yeah, it’s a shame that I didn’t get on the right train, and I got blocked in the race for quite a while.
“That made me lose the good train in front. And I couldn’t just move forward as much as we would have liked.
“But at the end of the day, it was still a decent weekend. There was a bit left on the table. A bit of traffic in quali, a bit of the wrong place, wrong moment in the race.
He noted that being disappointed with the future of double points was a good sign for the team’s direction, heading into the final rounds of the season.
“Being disappointed with points is a pretty positive thing, really.
“Looking at the pace, yeah, I think that update is really showing the capabilities. And I hope that this weekend we will have more of that sign.
“It’s going to be a good test to see if we can carry that from Mexico to here. And if we can, it will be nice.”
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