Esteban Ocon is keen to follow Daniel Ricciardo onto the Formula 1 podium as Renault look to secure P3 in the Constructors’ Championship.
Currently, the French manufacturer sits a point clear of both Racing Point and McLaren with just four races to go, thanks mostly to the results of Ocon’s teammate Daniel Ricciardo.
Indeed, after going over two years since his last top-three finish, the Australian has had two in the past three races, and that leaves Ocon keen to do his part.
“I must say, Daniel has been in incredible form,” the Frenchman, who is 55 points behind Ricciardo, said in his column for Formula1.com.
“The feeling in Germany when he got the podium meant a lot to the team and to see everyone with a smile on their faces in Parc Ferme meant a lot.
“It’s no secret that I aim to be up there soon, and I want to make sure I’m contributing my part to the team effort.”
While some have been critical of Ocon for his lack of impact since returning to F1 after a year out in 2019, lady luck has rarely been on the side of the 24-year-old.
“I know the ability for strong results is there on my side of the garage, but I’ve retired from two of the last three races with technical issues,” he noted.
“We must finish races and I know, if we do, we can be up there.
“Portugal was a damage limitation race for us as a team as we didn’t quite have the pace to break closer to the top five, so to score points was still a good result.”
Renault’s form in the second half of the season has been one of the biggest stories, as finding the sweet spot of the RS20 has allowed them to extract more performance.
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But while they might be the team in form, Ocon admits nothing is guaranteed between now and the end.
“I think, as a team, we wouldn’t be kidding anybody if we said we’d expected to be third in the championship 13 races into the season,” he accepted.
“But that has been down to a really big team effort from everyone executing the races trackside and all the preparation and hard work at Enstone and Viry. I do feel we deserve to be in this position.
“We’ve shown, especially more recently, we are quick at a number of different circuits as well as in varying conditions. We also know our competitors are fast and are not making it easy for us.
“So it’s great to be able to say that we’re third in the championship but, actually, for now, it doesn’t matter so much,” Ocon added.
“It only counts at 7pm on 13 December in Abu Dhabi when the chequered flag comes out. That’s when it matters.”
And in these final four races between, Renault is fearful of the continued potential shown by one team in particular.
“I think, particularly the start of the year, it looked like Racing Point [were fastest],” Ricciardo said.
“There was no denying that. I still feel they probably produce the most downforce out of us three. When it comes to pure grip performance, they probably got a little edge.”
“But having said that, in Nürburgring, we beat them and I don’t want to say easily but I think if we hadn’t slightly messed up our strategy when we were trying to take advantage of the Virtual Safety Car and stopped Daniel really early,” Renault sporting director Alan Permane suggested.
“I think it’s a little bit circuit-dependant. I think a comment Daniel made a couple of weeks ago, it comes down to reliability. That is also key to it and we got to get both cars in the points every week.”