‘Couldn’t brake’… The F1 car that left Esteban Ocon with ‘two black marks’ after every race

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Esteban Ocon looks set to make his next move to Haas in 2025, marking it the fourth team he has driven for in his Formula 1 career.

Ocon joins Haas after his tenure at Alpine came to a natural end, according to team principal of the French outfit Bruno Famin. While he achieved success with a win in Hungary in 2021, it has not always been easy for the Frenchman.

His F1 debut came in 2016 off the back of his title success in F1 feeder series GP3 (now F3), participating in the Belgian Grand Prix midway through the season that year.

The team was one of F1’s backmarkers Manor Racing and happened because they ran Mercedes engines, for which Ocon was signed on as a development driver. The Frenchman is also managed by Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff.

During the 2016 season, Manor had three drivers race for them, with Ocon replacing recent Formula E world champion Pascal Wehrlein after 12 rounds. This posed a few issues for the Frenchman, who described what it was like when speaking on the P1 podcast.

Esteban Ocon recalls 2016 season struggles

The main issue for Ocon was the size of the monocoque, which was originally designed to fit Wehrlein for the season. Drivers have bespoke seats and cockpits designed to fit them like a glove to make them as comfortable as possible in high-speed corners.

Wehrlein is 5.7ft whereas Ocon is one of the tallest drivers on the current F1 grid at 6.1ft. This created problems for him when steering the car and braking.

“My first season, I was in the Manor, so I had to adapt to everything the car was too small for me,” said Ocon.

“I had to clear my first leg when I was turning, clear the second one, and then coming back I had to clear both. So at the end of the race, I had like two black marks and worn gloves because I had to pass the two points where I was turning.

“The whole year was tricky. So when I was coming to tracks like Suzuka, for example, where there weren’t too many steering angle corners, I was super happy because I didn’t have to pass my legs every time. That’s how small the car was.”

“I was doing top speeds of like 340kph (210mph) in Sao Paolo and couldn’t brake at the end of the straight, the thing was locking up everywhere! But it was a fun challenge. I was arriving in F1 and figuring out how everything worked. I had some good races, starting Malaysia last and being P11 by the end of lap one, that was quite cool.”

Last season for Manor Racing before folding

The 2016 season would be the last time Manor Racing took part in a race on the grid, after a close battle for ninth in the Constructors’ Championship with Sauber.

The team scored its first and only points with Wehrlein at the Austrian GP which put them ahead of Sauber initially, but during the Brazilian GP later in the season, Sauber scored two points which put them ahead in the championship.

READ MORE: Alpine driver Esteban Ocon’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend

The order did not change at the final round in Abu Dhabi, costing Manor £30 million in prize money at the end of the year. This had massive implications on their ability to survive, having failed to secure a buyer over the winter break despite starting work on their car for the 2017 regulation change.

Ocon meanwhile signed a deal with Mercedes engine partner Force India (now Aston Martin) before the end of the season, where he would partner Sergio Perez for two seasons.