Ocon Reignites Verstappen F3 Rivalry

Published 12/12/2017, 8:43 AM EST

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Frenchman Esteban Ocon and Max Verstappen were huge rivals in their junior days. Although the ‘Flying Dutchman’ is already running up front in F1, Ocon believes he’s still quicker than his former F3 rival. Ocon actually managed to beat the latter in F3 as the pair furiously battled each other. Now, Esteban reignited the his Verstappen F3 rivalry by saying that he was still faster. The Dutch prodigy is already a bona fide Grand Prix winner but Ocon believes he still has the upper hand over his rival.

via Imago

Ocon said, “I was quicker than him, for sure. I got a lot more poles than he did. I don’t know if I’m quicker than him now, but I think so! You can’t really compare any more, you need to be in the same car to fight together. Maybe it’s going to happen at some point, I don’t know. But he’s really doing a good job at the moment and he’s one of the best drivers on the grid.”

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Verstappen recently signed a new three-year contract with Red Bull Racing. Meanwhile Ocon will be in the Force India ranks for at least another year. Ocon has been a Mercedes affiliated driver since his junior years. The 21-year-old Frenchman is looking at a possible opening with the German team at the end of 2018. But Toto Wolff insists that any talk about the squad’s driver line-up beyond next year is way premature.

via Imago

Toto Wolff said, “Esteban is one of our drivers and is therefore in the picture, but the team and all of its strength is behind Valtteri. If we to start thinking about other drivers, it would mean that the emotional side would not be 100 per cent for Valtteri. I can assure you, from the board to every team member, we all want Valtteri to succeed. Together with Lewis, he is our driver and we do not think of any others.”

Come 2018, will the 21-year old resume the Verstappen F3 rivalry and possibly turn it into a Verstappen F1 rivalry?

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Dhruv George

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.
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