Esteban Ocon Recalls His Father Worrying Over Him Being “Lean and Skinny” at the Age of 13

Esteban Ocon‘s perseverance is what got him to the pinnacle of motorsports today. However, his rise through the ranks was not easy. During the recent episode of the High-Performance podcast, the Frenchman revealed that when he was just 13 years old, he witnessed his father being concerned about his lean and skinny body.

Ocon said, “I remember we were in Portugal. And at some stage we were doing two or three days of testing. At the time, we saw another driver that was going. And I was going running you know around the track in the evening, At the time I was quite skinny and lean and my dad was like. Oh, I’ve prepared you the bike so you go around the track and you go cycling.” 

Ocon revealed that he had already finished three laps around the course and was exhausted. Despite that, his father wanted him to continue cycling.

Ocon explained that his father was being so aggressive because he witnessed other drivers practicing on the same track. According to him, they had a physical superiority since Ocon was lean and skinny. So, his father wanted him to have the complete package. For Ocon, it was a concerning moment. His parents had a lot on their plate, to manage finances and help support his racing career. But, they never showed any signs of stress.

Esteban Ocon’s parents shielded him from pressure

Ocon went on to talk about how his parents shielded him from stress in the same podcast. He provided an intriguing response. He revealed that all he had to do was focus on racing. His parents would take care of everything else, including preparing the caravan, and arranging things for him before he hopped back in the car.

Ocon added that his parents used to set up his go-kart and carry all the burden of figuring out the routes they needed to travel. They also managed his career, speaking to important personalities in the world of motorsports, to ensure a bright future.

Ocon also emphasized on the importance of sharing feelings with his parents. They lived in a caravan, and traveled to different places together. As a result of spending so much time in the same place, they learned to not hide feelings from another, which is something the Frenchman loves.

Eventually, Ocon made it big. His journey was long and hard, but he made it into the world of F1 in 2016.