Esteban Ocon thought Renault had Top 5 pace in F1 Turkish GP as Daniel Ricciardo explains T1 hit and spin ahead of Lando Norris spin.
A spectacular start to fourth from fag end of the Top 10 for Ocon in the F1 Turkish GP at Istanbul Park on Sunday was immediately undone upon entry into turn one. The Frenchman had contact with Daniel Ricciardo, who was avoiding Lewis Hamilton.
Not only Ocon spun then along with Valtteri Bottas behind, they had another contact at Turn 9 on the same lap. The Frenchman thought they had the pace to be in Top 5 but multiple spins on opening lap destroyed his grand prix.
“We’ve had a lot of bad luck recently,” said Ocon. “It’s tough to digest we had a good car for a Top 5. We are disappointed, obviously. I had a flying start – I was very happy to be third or fourth with Daniel. Lewis hit Daniel and then Daniel hit me, in the first corner.
“I got hit again then at T9, so [I drove] the rest of the lap with a puncture and from there on our race was compromised. I got P11 despite all that which shows that our pace was good. It was a bad day but I am sure good will come,” added a dejected Ocon.
Telling his perspective, Ricciardo stated that he had nowhere to go after getting stuck behind Sergio Perez, which allowed Lewis Hamilton and Ocon to be alongside him going into Turn 1 and the sandwich eventually led to a contact.
“The first 50 meters, the start was pretty good but I had to lift as I was going to hit the back of Perez which allowed others to catch up with Esteban on outside and Lewis inside,” said Ricciardo to TV media. “I was in a bit of a sandwich.
“I hit Esteban, he spun, and then it was disaster. We hung in there for the first part but as the race went on, we kept going through the tyres and it was tricky in the end,” described Ricciardo as he explained the slippery track led to a spin in front on Lando Norris.
“There was only one clean line and I tried to defend on the inside, as soon as I braked, I lost the front and rear,” said Ricciardo. “I thought he would go into me but I think he saw me sliding and he tried to avoid me. It was very slippery out there.
“We were trying to hang on,” Ricciardo added after managing only 10th in the end in a grand prix where both their rivals Racing Point and McLaren scored handsomely, with the former now with 154 points to the latter’s 149 and Renault with 136.
Here’s video of Esteban Ocon spinning twice: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2020/11/2020_Turkish_Grand_Prix__Onboard_as_Bottas_collides_with_Ocon_twice_in_crazy_opening_lap.html
Here’s video of Daniel Ricciardo spinning: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2020/11/2020_Turkish_Grand_Prix__Ricciardo_spins_while_defending_from_Norris.html
Here’s Valtteri Bottas on his spins with Esteban Ocon
