Ocon opens up on childhood struggles as he chased F1 dream

Speaking to French YouTube channel Legend, Ocon revealed the family sacrifices which helped get him to F1 often made it difficult to fit in with normal school life.

The Haas F1 driver’s parents Laurent and Sabrina sold their house and automobile repair shop to finance his motorsport career, living in a caravan throughout much of his youth.

Before moving to distant schooling at the age of 14, Ocon balanced a busy schedule of weekend motorsport competition alongside full-time school routine.

But funding fledgling motorsport career on a shoestring budget meant that Ocon an even more unusual upbringing than most of his F1 rivals.

He said: “I’d come home from the race on Sunday night; in the morning I’d wake up in front of the school.

“It was easier that way when we drove back, as we didn’t exactly have a place to stay. We stayed at my cousin’s most of the time, we parked our caravan there.

“But as it was already very late, we gained time by parking in front of the school, then I went straight to class.”

At the age of 19, Ocon make his F1 debut with Manor Racing at the 2016 Belgian GP.

He has since asserted himself in the sport, with a race win at the 2021 Hungarian GP and a further four podiums for Renault and Alpine.

But a successful career in F1 was once a distant dream for the Frenchman and he had to prove many doubters wrong along the way.

He said: “I missed quite a lot of classes, because on Fridays we needed to go to free practice.

“Even the school’s headmaster, at the time, told me: ‘You’ve got to stop doing this. Frankly, you’re not going anywhere. This is a rich man’s sport. There’s no point in you doing this.’

“Well, sir, thanks for ruining my dreams, but I made it!

“It’s sad, telling a 10 or 11-year-old child that he can’t make his dream come true.”

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