“We don’t know how the tarmac has evolved,” Esteban Ocon raises “concerns” after F1’s absence from Montreal
Follow Us
Esteban Ocon will start the United States GP from the pitlane
Esteban Ocon the Alpine Formula One driver has spoken out ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix and has raised concerns regarding the surface in Montreal.
Formula One is returning to Canada after a hiatus of more than three years and like everyone else, Esteban Ocon is also not sure as to what the track is going to be like.
Kevin Magnussen has envisioned that the ride in Montreal is going to be a bumpy one for all the drivers and Ocon has agreed with the Haas driver.
Ocon is keeping his fingers crossed as he has emphasized the fact that Formula One has not run at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve for three years where temperatures can fluctuate at any moment massively.
Ocon while recently discussing the Montreal circuit has said, “I think it’s going to be a different challenge [compared to Baku].”
“The straights are shorter, although they are still quite long, you need to ride more of the curbs and it’s quite a bumpy circuit as well.”
“It’s going to be interesting because we haven’t been there for a long [time]. We know that it is very cold in the winter and quite hot in summer, so we don’t know how the tarmac has evolved.”
Also Read: “I was suffering forces of 10G,” Lewis Hamilton reflects on his painful experience in Baku
Esteban Ocon believes that his team is not facing bouncing as bad as some of the others
The mighty Mercedes has been one of the worst-hit teams by proposing and after the race in Baku the Mercedes camp said that the bouncing was so severe that their drivers were pulling up to 6G when porpoising during the closing stages of the Baku weekend.
Alpine has got solid straight-line speed this season and is one of the few teams who have got a good handle on the porpoising issue, the bouncing on their car is not as bad as some of the others.
However, with FIA looking for options, it will be interesting to see how much the Alpine team would be affected by the new rules.
Ocon further added, “Hopefully it’s not going to be too bad.”
“It was pretty bad [in Baku], especially at the end, which I was surprised at. At low fuel, it was harsher.”
“I saw drivers in worse shape than me after the race, as we are on the good end of the spectrum. But yeah, it was definitely not nice towards the end.”
Given what Ocon has said ahead of the Canadian GP the three-day extravaganza in Canada is going to be full of ups and downs for the teams and it will be interesting to see who would be able to deliver on a relatively unknown Montreal track.
Also Read: Carlos Sainz has “dismissed” Max Verstappen’s solution for porpoising
Stay Updated!
Rishabh Negi
(3244 Articles Published)