Ocon pinpoints key to Hamilton's "successful life everywhere"

Ocon worked alongside six-time F1 champion Hamilton during his year as a Mercedes reserve driver in 2019.

Speaking at the launch of his new employer Renault's 2020 campaign, Ocon said he found the experience of working with Hamilton and his teammate Valtteri Bottas "very useful" - and revealed Hamilton had aided him in coping with career uncertainty.

"I came out of my environment, with my experience, driving, using stuff, knowing what's best, what's not, and then going to see how they [Hamilton and Bottas] do their things [was] definitely very, very useful for me," Ocon said.

"On the other side also, I had a good chat with Lewis, who gave me good advice - not really the sport side, more the managing side, and the moment where it was a bit crucial, where there were discussions [for 2020] but nothing signed.

"He knew how to give me good words and gave me directions, where to go, and definitely, yeah, among a lot of people he was also a good teacher in all those paths."

Asked what exactly he'd learned from Hamilton, Ocon said: "I won't go into details because that would be giving [away] his secrets, but definitely how he used his time, it's very impressive.

"The way he worked with his engineers and the life the has, you know, all around he has a very busy life, but when he does something it's 100 percent. Forget the rest.

"He does his things, very precisely. But once he's done it, boom, doesn't lose time, does something else. And this is something in Formula 1 it's quite easy to not do well.

"Because you need to refocus on the things - so you could've gone to the Fan Zone, whatever, and then you come back to your engineering debrief, you only have 10 minutes to speak with your engineers, but you took three [minutes] to refocus.

"And he straight away managed to switch very clearly from that. And I think this is why he has such a successful life everywhere."

Esteban Ocon, Renault F1 Team R.S.20

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