Formula 1

Esteban Ocon explains his spectacular double-passes at Belgian GP

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Esteban Ocon explained the spectacular double passes he made during the Belgian Grand Prix.

Among those to start down the grid due to engine penalties, the Alpine driver gained nine places from 16th to P7 in the race at Spa Francorchamps.

Along the way, Ocon showed off some good overtaking skills but it almost went wrong early on when he passed both Daniel Ricciardo and Nicholas Latifi at the Bus Stop.

“Well, kind of that," he said on if he was trying to protect the car as he made his way through the field.

"It almost didn’t happen because when I went on the outside of Nicholas we almost touched.

“They blocked each other, basically, so I’m pushing the overtake button – you are using the battery to deploy until the braking zone.

“It’s critical the energy here and you are trying to get the maximum out of the race, but you can get in trouble basically if you use too much.”

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Then, later in the race, Ocon came up on Pierre Gasly and Sebastian Vettel along the Kemmel Straight before sweeping around both on the outside.

“At the time, I thought ‘oh no, Seb didn’t get the DRS there so Gasly will have it basically’,” he reflected. “And I thought ‘okay, there is an opportunity again there’.

“So going on the left of Seb, he has been very fair, left me the space, and then fresher tyres on Gasly so I could go around the outside. So thank you guys!”

The move triggered some flashbacks to Mika Hakkinen's iconic pass on Michael Schumacher for the win in Belgium back in 2000, when he went up the inside of both the Ferrari and the lapped car of Ricardo Zonta.

And Ocon revealed he actually spoke to the double world champion on the grid.

“It’s a good coincidence," he admitted, "just before the race, to wish me luck.”

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