Esteban Ocon has revealed he turned to Mercedes Motorsport boss Toto Wolff for “help” with how to deal with Force India teammate Sergio Perez during their turbulent relationship this year.
The Frenchman is a part of the German manufacturer’s young driver program and though most of the headlines he made were positive in an excellent first full season in Formula 1, his performances did cause tension with the Mexican.
They began in Canada after Perez would not allow his faster teammate through amid confusion over whether the Force India pit wall had issued an order telling him to do so, that then spiralled with the pair colliding at the next race in Baku before coming to blows twice at the Belgian Grand Prix.
“Probably the first thing I did was to call him (Wolff) and see how they dealt with Lewis (Hamilton) and Nico (Rosberg) back then,” the 21-year-old told Motorsport.com.
“I had their point of view, I had Force India’s point of view. It’s always helpful to get different point of views, but especially from Mercedes. They are world champions so they know what they are talking about.
“I can’t go into detail [about the advice] but it was just a good help.”
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The situation became such at the Silverstone-based team that, though they would score 16 double points finishes out of 20 races, the two drivers would not be allowed to race each other after the events at Spa, causing frustration over the final races.
Perez has already claimed the team orders need to be lifted for 2018 and Ocon agrees the relationship between the pair is now on a much better platform.
“It’s important we have respect for each other and it’s important for the team that there is a good atmosphere and we work together to develop the car correctly,” he claimed. “We are maybe not going to go on holidays together, but we get along well.”
