Esteban Ocon admitted it was “frustrating” to see his 27-race finishing streak at the start of his Formula 1 career ended by a crash with Romain Grosjean on the opening lap of the Brazilian Grand Prix this past weekend.
The Frenchman surpassed the previous record for most starts before a first retirement, set by Max Chilton in 2014 in Austin and before that hadn’t failed to finish a single-seater race since his European F3 campaign in 2014, when he would beat Max Verstappen to the title.
Though acknowledging it was a streak which would not go on forever, the Force India concedes it was the way it happened which was the most disappointing.
“I’m not happy to retire from the race. I knew this day would come at some stage, but I wasn’t expecting it to be today,” he said. “It’s a shame because there was nothing I could do; Romain lost the car in Turn 6 and crashed into me.
“He made a mistake and I suffered from it, my front wheel rim was damaged so I couldn’t even drive back to the pits. It’s frustrating because the car was quick and we had the pace to be fighting up there with Checo (Sergio Perez). Days like this happen but I hope it will be another three years before it happens again.”
It was also only the second race of 2017 when Ocon hadn’t finished in the points, after being unable to come through the field after a crash in Monaco qualifying, and, as a result, likely means his teammate Perez will secure seventh place in the Drivers’ standings with the gap at 11 points with just one race to go in Abu Dhabi.