Esteban Ocon has expressed guilt for a number of incidents with Sergio Perez that occurred during his early years in Formula 1, when the pair were team-mates at Forca India.
The Frenchman, via his then-role as a Mercedes Junior Driver, was hired by Force India in 2017 for his first full season in F1, having completed nine races the year before with Manor.
Conversely, Perez was about to commence his seventh season in the sport, and therefore firmly established and likely seen as a ‘number one’ driver.
Ocon quickly got up to speed in the Silverstone-based squad’s – now Aston Martin – second car alongside the Mexican, which led to first high-profile clash, in Baku.
With both running in the top five, Ocon left Perez with little room and the latter ended up in the wall.
A similar incident occurred at Spa, but with the roles reversed, and Ocon launching a furious tirade after the race, asking whether Perez “wants to die or something.”
One year later, the pair came together once more, this time in Singapore. After both the pink cars ended up in the wall, the team sided with Ocon.
“I started clearly on the back foot in the first race [of 2017],” he explained. “But then I managed to catch up well after that. And then we were racing very closely. And there were moments where I did mistakes, there were moments where I don’t feel it was necessarily my fault.
“I was very young. I was inexperienced. I wanted to push hard and show people what I was capable of.
“At the time, we were just racing hard and trying to race as the best we can. And that’s also why we got so many points that year. Because we were racing very well together.”
Esteban Ocon did and still does have ‘respect’ for Perez
Ocon cited the Spa incident as a major regret, and cited the importance of overcoming those mistakes as a strength, adding he had a great deal of respect for Perez then, which remains to this day.
“There are things that I would have liked to change. Like Spa, for example. These kinds of moments, it shouldn’t have happened. It cost the team points,” he said.
“You know, I’ve made mistakes over my career, and things that I shouldn’t have done in racing. But that’s how you learn from it. We all make mistakes, but it’s how you overcome those.
“That’s the way I saw racing back then. The track was what matters the most. Still, I believe that the track is what matters the most, but things could have happened in a different way.
“And with how much respect I had for Checo at the time – and I still have now – I would have preferred things to go in a different way.”
Ocon will be joined by Perez on the grid again in 2026, with veteran returning from a one-year absence to spearhead the new Cadillac squad, with Ocon remaining at fellow American team Haas.
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