Esteban Ocon “never scared” of Max Verstappen during karting rivalry

Esteban Ocon has reflecte๊d on his rivalry with Max Verstappen over the years.

(L to R): Max Verstappen (NLD) Red Bull Racing and Esteban Ocon (FRA) Alpine F1 Team on the FanZone Stage. Formula 1 World
(L to R): Max Verstappen (NLD) Red Bull Racing and Esteban Ocon (FRA) Alpine F1 Team on the…

168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Esteban Ocon has shed light on his intense rivalry with 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Max Verstappen during karting.

Ocon and Verstappen were fierce rivals through the various junior categories, ultimately going head-to-heꦕad for the FIA Formula 3 European Championship in 2014.

The pair have had contrasting fortunes in F1 with Verstappen winning three titles and over 50 races, while Ocon has just one win t🌠o his name🐻.

Speaking on the High Performance podcast, Ocon shed light on his rivalry with Verstappen and 𒉰how he wasn’t scar💮ed of him, or his father, Jos.

"Everybody was a little bit scared of Jos and Max at the time because Jos was driving in F1♛ before and is known for how fierce and scary he canꦺ be, talking to other young kids at the go-kart tracks," Ocon said.

“But me and my dad were never s𝐆cared because we just wanted to race. We raced💟 hard, we raced really hard and at times, we crossed lines in certain races.

"Sometimes we didn't finish where we were supposed to because of how hard the fights were but that made 🌼me learn a lot on how to race and I hope it made him learn a good amount.

“We met again in F3 later,𓃲 fr💖om karting in 2011, a three-year break and then we met in F3, racing for the title.

“There it was hard racing as well♋. I have always enjoyed racing with Max. Tough racing is always cool to me, side-by-side, being very close - that is what racing is all about and there is nothing else that makes me that excited.”

Ocon beat Verstappen to the F3 title in 2024 - but it was the Dutchman who made it int🐭o F1 first with Toro Rosso.

(L to R): Esteban Ocon (FRA) Alpine F1 Team and Max Verstappen (NLD) Red Bull Racing in the FIA Press Conference. Formula
(L to R): Esteban Ocon (FRA) Alpine F1 Team and Max Verstappen (NLD) Red Bull Racing in the…

The Frenchman had to wait until the middle of ꦛ2016 to make his debut with the backmar🌌ker team, Manor.

Ocon conceded he was very frustrated by the fact Verstappen made it iꦇnto F1 first.

"So I got into the Mercedes Junior Programme. From there on, it was back on route but from Max not winning the title and then finishing third and then going into F1 and then me🌠 not even having an option to continue racing, that was tough to swallow. I was⭕ very pissed off in those times. That was very difficult," he added.

"To me, it was not fair... not saying that I would go to F1 because I always believed that my time would come if I put hard w🧔ork in, got the results.

"B🐻ut in those moments, I wasn't sure that I was going to even continue racing and, for me, that wasn't fair.

"I ꦦam glad all those🐼 guys saw it wasn't fair and found solutions for me to continue."

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