“One more lap, I think we would’ve got a puncture” – Frenchman Esteban Ocon followed up on Mika Solo’s feat achieved during the 1997 Monaco Grand Prix.
Esteban Ocon had a stupendous race yesterday in Istanbul, as he brought the Alpine home on the same tyres he started the race on. He finished the race with a point in P10, to put the icing on the proverbial cake.
The last time this was achieved in a race without a Red Flag stoppage was 24 years ago, Mika Solo doing the needful. Ocon wasn’t aware of this, but seeing the state of his Pirelli tyres after the race, wants it to be hung in the Renault factory.
“I don’t know when is the last time that nobody had a pit stop. It was a risk today that we took and it paid off in the end because we got a point out of it.
“It doesn’t look great in the end, that tyre. I think we’ll hang it on the wall in the factory.
“It’s good because, as I said, it paid off. There was a lot of discussion, but in my head it was pretty clear that we had to try and get something out of that.
“Last year I had the incident in the first lap, and basically from there on I drove on intermediates the whole race as well. So I thought if last year was the case, maybe this year we could do the same, and this year we did one more lap then that, so it was good.
“It was tricky at the end, a couple more corners I would’ve lost that point. It’s good to have a reward in the end, I’m pretty pleased to get that point for everybody.
“One more lap, I think we would’ve got a puncture. It was a risky bet. We made it work.”
