Esteban Ocon on his relationship with Michael Schumacher

Esteban Ocon never concealed the fact that his idol from an early age was Michael Schumacher, and whenever he was involved in karting, he invariably competed in red overalls. This attitude towards the seven-time world champion has been formed since he watched Formula 1 on TV with his father as a child, but was further instilled when he visited the French Grand Prix for the first time in 2006.

Esteban was 10 years old at the time, he watched the race from the grandstands of the Magny-Cours circuit and that day Michael achieved his 88th victory.

Ocon’s career in the youth series was quite successful: in 2014 he won the Formula 3 title and as a reward was given the right to work with the Ferrari team on tests in Fiorano. In an interview with the championship’s official website, he talked about several episodes related to Schumacher.

“When I was young, I watched TV and saw how clearly Michael dominated Formula 1 behind the wheel of a red car,” recalls the French Alpine F1 driver. – My father always watched F1 races, at that time they were shown in France on the TF1 channel, and Jean-Louis Monse was commentating, and on Sundays we sat down to watch TV.

I remember playing with a racing car when the Monaco Grand Prix was broadcast – it was the 2004 race because that’s when I saw Michael going into the tunnel – and at that time the television picture of what was happening in the tunnel wasn’t very Good .

And then we saw him ride out of there on three wheels! I just couldn’t believe my eyes, how could this happen?! It just didn’t fit in my head, and I think I cried all day then, my soul was so heavy.

As a fan, I was only present at one race: the 2006 French Grand Prix. At that time, Formula 1 was organized at the Magny-Cours circuit. I remember sitting in the stands, three turns before the end of the round, and I was wearing a T-shirt with a portrait of Michael.

I remember there were a lot of passionate fans walking around who showed all kinds of funny gestures, especially after qualifying. Michael couldn’t win the title that year, but he won that race!

When I competed in karting – I’m sure everyone has seen these photos – I had a red overall and a helmet designed like Michael’s. I was very lucky: my father then painted a helmet for me. At the time we only had photos from the internet and they were of very poor quality, so we could not accurately represent all the details.

For me it was also a very special moment when I got the right to test behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car for the first time – in Fiorano I drove a Ferrari as a reward for winning the Formula 3 title in 2014. Then my dream came true, especially since I was still very young, and I have wonderful memories of that day.

The older I got, the more carefully I studied Michael’s legacy and his sporting achievements. As you can see, he has changed Formula 1 in many ways, because over the years of his career the level of expectations has become completely different when it comes to the attitude of teams towards drivers.

Teams pay much more attention to nuances, because Michael also stood out for his attention to all details. He was very close to his team and always shared his success with everyone…

Of course I drive for Alpine, but Michael spent four years with this team and won two titles with it when it was still called Benetton. There are still several people who worked with him back then. And they just confirmed what I had heard from others and seen on TV: he was a very modest man, but also very driven and very attentive to all the details.”