Ocon encouraged by pace in long stints at Renault

For his big return to competition last week, Esteban Ocon had experienced a frustrating Friday with a series of small setbacks which had limited his driving and compromised his preparation for qualifying. 

The Frenchman had a much calmer opening day this week, even if he saw his teammate Daniel Ricciardo hurting his knee after a violent exit from the track in FP2. 13th time in Free Practice 1, the Norman improved to 10th place in the afternoon, 40 thousandths behind the Ferrari de Charles Leclerc ranked just ahead of him. 

« It was a very good day, I'm quite happy with how the events went, confided Ocon. It was a much cleaner Friday than last week. We had no problem, we managed to complete the program, which was very important. We further improved the car. Long stints are very good. We still need to work on qualifying a little bit on the short runs but it’s positive ». 

As for his teammate Daniel Ricciardo, he made another detour to the medical center on Saturday morning after hitting his knee on the steering wheel during his accident. The Australian was declared good for service and his R.S.20 was able to be repaired by the Losange mechanics before the curfew began at 01:00 a.m.