Dave Ryan has praised Esteban Ocon for the way he has come into the Manor Racing team midway through the season and shown good pace compared to team-mate Pascal Wehrlein.
The Racing Director of the Banbury-based team believes Ocon has a lot of potential to be a good driver within Formula 1 having replaced Rio Haryanto ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix after the Indonesian’s funds ran out, and although the Frenchman has not had the best of the reliability issues within the team so far, he has finished all races he has started.
Ocon has out-qualified Wehrlein in the past two events in Malaysia and Japan, and finished ahead of his German team-mate last time out at the Suzuka International Racing Course, and Ryan believes the Ocon-Wehrlein partnership is a great one for the Manor team.
“To arrive part-way through the season into a team that has been developing along with Pascal [Wehrlein] is a big ask,” said Ryan on crash.net. “We haven’t helped the situation because he hasn’t had the best of reliability up until now.
“But the kid’s fantastic. He’s got a fantastic attitude, he’s got huge potential and together with him and Pascal it’s a great driving line-up.”
