Ocon took wrong choice in Sochi: "Clear mistake on our part"

Esteban Ocon did not have his best Grand Prix weekend in Russia. The Frenchman, who took his first Formula 1 victory of the season in Budapest, finished fourteenth on the Sochi circuit, while teammate Fernando Alonso was upfront until the rain shower, even overtaking Max Verstappen who was struggling on mediums.

Ocon himself wasn't too pleased with his own performance in Russia either: "Probably one of the hardest Sundays of the year," he said. "I think the positive was the start and the first few laps, which was pretty good. I gained some ground at the start and we were able to stay in a good position for the first few laps, but after that it was quite difficult in terms of pace," he says at F1.com.

Like Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris, Ocon also took the (wrong) gamble of driving on slicks for as long as possible. "It was risky to jump into the pits, but also risky to stay on the track like we did. It was going to rain like in the first two laps, so in the first two laps the conditions were similar, and then there would be a little break in the rain, but actually it rained more. So obviously that was a mistake on our part as well."

Before the rain, Ocon was at least still driving in the points, but so after the wrong strategic choice he still fell back. "It wasn't the smoothest race in terms of pace, in terms of decisions, also in qualifying we didn't do everything optimally, so there are plenty of things we can review to do better in the next races."