Ocon: Not a good Friday

The Frenchman had to settle for 12th and 16th times during the two free sessions on Friday. Or with notably lost running time in the morning due to a flat spot on one of his tires which cost him 20 minutes.

He then had to wait for some time in the garage in Free Practice 2 while the team investigated the reasons which led to the loss of a left rear wheel on the VJM11 of his teammate Sergio Pérez.

« It wasn't a good Friday, confided the Norman in the paddock afterwards. I was having difficulty with the car, especially the handling. We will have to work hard to see what we can do and reverse the trend on Saturday. There are several reasons why we are in such good shape but we prefer to keep them to ourselves. We would also have liked to drive more.

We had tricky conditions with a lot of wind, particularly in FP2. We still learned things. We haven't yet gotten the car to where we would like to have it in terms of performance. We are not in a position of strength as we have experienced on other tracks. We're going to work hard tonight and we still have one session left on Saturday morning to improve. The important thing is tomorrow, today, no one will remember. The objective remains Q3 ».

Timesheet aside, Ocon was in any case very happy to be playing under the eye of the French spectators for the return of the F1 in France after 10 years of absence.

« It's a real joy to ride here, added the 21-year-old young man. I'm really happy to be there with the public supporting us and the French flags in the stands. It shouldn't be an additional pressure, if we start thinking like that, that's where we can go wrong ».