“Everybody Was a Little Bit Scared”: Terrorizing the Karting Scene, Jos and Max Verstappen Couldn’t Get Through Esteban Ocon

Credits: IMAGO / HochZwei

Esteban Ocon is hardly a competition for Max Verstappen off late, but during the junior days, things were exactly the opposite. For Max Verstappen and his father, Ocon was a name synonymous with menace. This is despite the fact that the Verstappens were a force to reckon with, even during old times.

Jos Verstappen had an intimidating presence during Ocon and Verstappen Jr’s young days. The Dutchman had his F1 connection through and through and he was all up to take his son, the young Max to his level and beyond.

Speaking about this, Ocon shared in an interview with the High-Performance Podcast, as shown in F1 YouTuber Tommo’s video, “In Go-Kart, it was those years you know when we were with my dad against him [Max Verstappen] and his dad. Everybody was a little bit scared, you know of Jos and Max at the time because Jos was driving in Formula 1.”

However, Ocon was fearless, as always. The primary reason for the going all-out attitude was because of the contrasting situation of the Frenchman’s family. The Alpine driver comes from a modest family and they have done everything to support young Esteban’s racing career. Therefore, he did not have much option but to race for wins.

The Frenchman was in case of a desperation as things were ‘all or nothing’ for him. This made him a ‘bad boy’ to his teammates as Ocon had everything on the line and wins were a must. Interestingly, this was something Max Verstappen also had due to his father’s absolute pressure. Therefore, the visible aggressiveness in their driving style perfectly reflected that.

Esteban Ocon had a hard time growing up

Unlike most of the F1 drivers these days, Esteban Ocon comes from a humble background. The 27-year-old had a different level of growing up, something many current F1 drivers did not have in their young days.

“I never went to skiing on holidays for example. I never went to birthday party of other kids. We are rarely going on holidays or weekends you know with my parents. It was all about going onto the racetrack, and training. I had a lot of weight on my shoulders very young. With the amount of sacrifice my parents put, I had no right to fail,” stated the former Force India driver.

Ocon also added how his national championship days were full of hardships. While his competitors had the luxury of being on big teams or factory teams, he had none. He had to do everything on his own and use old engines and chassis.

Furthermore, the #31 driver had to opt for used tires from other kids. Despite all of these, he made sure he defeated Max Verstappen in European Formula 3 when they were neck and neck in the competition. Ocon won the championship, while Verstappen had to settle for P3 in the standings.

All in all, Esteban Ocon has made quite a name for himself. He makes $6 million a year at his current contract at Alpine but is struggling to compete with the A524, due to the team’s struggles. Nonetheless, Ocon’s hard work has paid off as he is now racing in Formula 1 and made his parents proud, something very few drivers such as Lewis Hamilton have done.