Esteban Ocon has pulled back the curtain on the way drivers like him, Max Verstappen, and Charles Leclerc raced in their formative years, and it was a no-compromise approach. The Dutch driver has often been referenced with a reputation of being a hard racer, where there is no compromise when you go wheel to wheel with him.

There is, however, a reality beyond that, which is the fact that drivers like Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen, and Esteban Ocon grew up together racing against each other in an uncompromising fashion, where they did not give each other an inch on track. As they progressed through the racing categories, this style has continued to be a feature for all of them.

Early in the Charles Leclerc-Max Verstappen battles in 2019, what stood out was the intense nature with which the two went after it. There was nothing left on the table, and more often than not, the two had quite a few eye-catching battles where they were unwilling to yield to the other driver.

Esteban Ocon has not had much of a run at the front of a grid in his career yet, but he has been involved in some very intense battles with some of his teammates. The battle between him and Fernando Alonso stands out as one where you could see how little of a margin the French driver was leaving for the Spaniard.

Max Verstappen, on his part, was the first to make it to F1 out of the trio, and he did make his mark with his uncompromising driving. The driver did end up in some trouble at times but continues to back his approach, as that is something he has grown up with. In an interview with Crash.net, Esteban Ocon pulled back the curtain on how he raced during his formative years, as he said,

“I think all my life nothing came easy, I had to fight for it. So when I’m on track I’ve got the same chance as everyone, I’m also going to fight for it. But I’ve encountered that there are drivers that fight harder than me.”

He added,

“I like tough racing. I grew up racing with Max [Verstappen], racing with Charles [Leclerc], and the rule was, as soon as you are on the outside, you are in the gravel. So if somebody is resisting to you, you will get pushed out on the exit and ‘see you later’.”

Esteban Ocon’s subtle hint on the Max Verstappen-Lando Norris wheel-to-wheel battles

Last season when Lando Norris was battling Max Verstappen on track, it did reach a point where the Brit felt that the Dutch driver was going overboard in the manner in which he was racing him.

There were even moments when critics felt that Verstappen’s aggressive approach to driving was something that caught Norris off guard. Esteban Ocon did subtly mention the same when he talked about the next generation of racers that came after him and how maybe they raced a bit differently. He said,

“All my generation have been racing like this forever, so it just makes sense for us. I think this generation has a bit of a different view to that. But that’s how we’ve been racing, the way that we’ve been racing with Max forever.”

It is an interesting mix of different generations making it to the sport in different ways, but it also is a testament to how drivers who are brought up in a certain way in their formative years end up instilling that as a part of their racing DNA.