Winning Force India seat adds pressure - Ocon

Esteban Ocon says being selected by Force India to race for the team in 2017 puts pressure on him to deliver for the team.

Force India was left searching for a new driver in October after Nico Hulkenberg opted to leave for Renault despite having already been under contract. The frontrunners were immediately young Mercedes due Ocon and Pascal Wehrlein as both had tested for the team on consecutive days in Austria 2015.

Ocon won the seat and was announced as Hulkenberg's replacement ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend. In an exclusive interview with F1i, the Frenchman says the desire for Force India to hire him gives him confidence but also adds pressure.

“The test helped massively, massively," Ocon said. "I think if I didn’t do this test they wouldn’t even think about me. They wanted me, Force India wanted me. This test was a coincidence at first but in the end it was for something because now I got the drive with them.

"It has been good and they remember me well, I gave them a great test I think, that’s why they wanted me, and we were P2 at this test so it’s just a great one for me as well. I really remember it like one of my best tests.

“It’s great [to be wanted], but also it puts you under some pressure because they think big. They think that you will arrive and do a strong job so that’s what they expect. So I have to work very hard to do that, to deliver that. I haven’t delivered it yet so you need the hard work to be done.”

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.