“I Allow You to Give Me a Slap”: Esteban Ocon’s Bizarre Request to F1 Journalist

The F1 75 launch was one of the sport’s grandest events in recent times. All 10 teams, their drivers, and some of the biggest names in both F1 and entertainment gathered at the O2 Arena in London on Tuesday, making for a night filled with iconic—and at times, perplexing—moments.

New Haas driver Esteban Ocon for instance, had a rather bizarre interaction with the hosts of the Fast and the Curious Podcast.

Christian Hewgill, one of the hosts, had some advice for Ocon. “Never forget where you come from,” he said, with a rather ‘wise’ undertone. Betty Glover, who was sitting next to him casually added that Hewgill simply quoted the lyrics from Never Forget from the band Take That.

Ocon, however, agreed with Hewgill’s statement—and even made a request. He asked Hewgill to slap him if he ever forgot his roots.

“If one day I forget, you know, where I’m coming from I allow you to give me a slap,” the Frenchman said.

“I allow you to, you have it on camera. So if one day, that changes, going to put my ideas back straight,” the ex-Alpine star added. Hewgill, however, called Ocon a ‘very nice man’, and insisted that he could never slap him.

This interaction may have simply highlighted how important Ocon feels it is to remember one’s roots. That’s why he didn’t pay much attention to Glover when she pointed out that it was just a lyric, not a motivational quote.

Or perhaps he had no idea who Take That were—or that they were one of the headliners of F1 75.

Ocon admitted that he didn’t know the band, which may have been why Hewgill quoted the lyrics in the first place.

 

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He could have simply been playing along before later attending Take That’s performance, where they played Greatest Day from their 2009 album The Circus at the event.