Ocon finally gets his first taste of F1 practice

Renault test driver Esteban Ocon made a positive start to his budding Formula 1 career with a successful morning's work at Silverstone on the first day of the British Grand Prix weekend.

"Yes, this time it went properly," said Ocon, who had previously planned to make his Formula One bow in Spain in May, only for technical issues to leave him parked in the garage for almost the entire session.

This weekend things went rather better for the French teen and he was able to complete 31 laps of the Silverstone circuit and was a respectable 19th fastest in Free Practice 1 for the British Grand Prix while sitting in for the team's regular driver Kevin Magnussen.

"Productive FP1, we completed all the tests that we were supposed to," he confirmed. "We've been through everything, all the procedures and all the test items the teams had, so that was great.

"On my side it's good to have experience on a fast track really. The last time I drove F1 it was in Barcelona which is also a quick track, but it was a different situation - it was a full day test and not really performance, you know?

"It was good to get the feeling of high speed with the car, how it handles, and I'm looking forward to do some more." He confirmed that more FP1 outings with Renault were planned but said that he wasn't able to say when at this stage.

Asked how the Formula One car compared with the racing in GP3 in which he won the title in 2015, Ocon admitted that he had initially been caught out by just how fast the Grand Prix cars were.

"It's very quick in high speed - I was not expecting it to be that fast in the beginning, but I'm getting used to it. I was missing some more tyres to get to the end, but I'll get some more later.

"Just getting used to the car I think is what you need to get confidence in and knowing what the car is going to do," he continued. "That's the thing you need to get. I just need more miles in the car really."

Ocon will be back in the cockpit again at Silverstone albeit in a different team for next week's in-season test, when he will be paired up with Pascal Wehrlein at Mercedes.

"I'm going there in the mind of wanting to do a good job," said Ocon, dismissing concerns that he might be 'on trial' during the test. "[The pressure] is the same because they have the same expectation, this team and the other one. Of course this team is not at the highest level now but they will come back at one point and I'm sure they will.

"I want to do a good job for the team, thinking about the normal things - driving properly, be consistent, get a good feedback from the team," he added. "That's the important thing - that in the end they're happy with the job you do."

Having the chance to drive a Renault before moving to Mercedes next week was also a boost as far as Ocon was concerned.

"It's good to get a reference in performance, and also its going to be a good starting point for me, starting here and then having the test - I'm just going to be just improving, and the more mileage you have in a Formula 1 car the better it is so it's just great to have the opportunity to be driving here and then the test."

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