Ocon reveals his craziest moment with the media: 'He had no problem with this?

11:59, 17 Aug

Updated: 12:41, 17 Aug

byLudo van Denderen

orbFormula 1 drivers today are equivalent in popularity to pop stars and actors. Wherever they go, the drivers are hounded for autographs and selfies. The media capitalizes on this, as they want to know everything about the racers. This is also true for Esteban Ocon, who had a very strange encounter with an overly enthusiastic journalist.

Anyone who wants an interview with Ocon or another F1 driver, must first go through the press department of a Formula 1 team. This is how the paparazzi are filtered out. But off the track, there are sometimes journalists who know no bounds and go to the extremes for a scoop.

Ocon saw a journalist cross the line

Ocon can testify to this, as he explains in an exclusive interview with GPblog. "Somebody went to my cousin's house and was taking picture on top of the garden to basically do the full story or whatever."

"This was super weird. When it gets into the private stuff, it just gets to a point where it's a lack of respect. Yeah, I remember the guy showing me these pictures and I was like, he was not even thinking that was a problem, you know?’"

Esteban Ocon is the same person as ten years ago

Even though Ocon is now world-famous, he has not changed the way he lives. "I still hang out with the same people I was hanging out with seven eight nine years ago. And even before I was in F1, I'm still very close to my family and so yes can do exactly the same thing as I was doing before."

F1 fans always behave properly

Ocon realizes that in public places he is an attraction and he takes that into account. "But it's always been fine. Most of our fans are people that care for us and they will not get too disturbing."

"There will be one picture here, one picture there, but after dinner, stuff like that. I've faced most of the time really nice people and people passionate and not the wrong side of things."

As one of the veterans, Ocon can compare how popular Formula 1 has become. "For sure. When we started in 2017 or 2016, up to now, it's a crazy difference. The sport has exploded in a good way. That's really good."