Esteban Ocon is sure that F1 has an huge potential of expanding their audience, especially with title battles as tight as this year's and a closer grid than in previous championships. The 2021 season was, according to ESPN, the most viewed in the history of the sport in the United States, averaging 934'000 viewers per race, and Netflix's series Drive to Survive has attracted a number of new fans since it first premiered in 2019.

The Alpine driver believes that F1 could reach the same level of interest as football for the public, as he said:

“I think it’s fantastic, the way it is evolving. Of course there are still things we could just clean up or have better, but I think the way we are trying things, the way the races were interesting, the way there is opportunity nowadays, it’s just crazy until the last lap."

“That last lap in 2021 really sums up the whole season because it has been like that in 2020, it has been like that in 2021, and if we have the cars closer together, it probably will overtake football in terms of how interesting it is going to be, the sport. I would be really happy if that’s the case."

The Frenchman, involved in the Ballon d'Or ceremony alongside teammate Fernando Alonso, added that this season has brought closer to the sport even some who weren't as interested to it before, both because of the high level of emotions and the novelties introduced by the new CEO:

“I think everybody talks about Formula 1. I had some friends who were not really into the sport and now they are completely watching. Yeah, it is just great. All these kinds of things, it’s just cool to try them,  and just cool to have new excitements, and we have lots of different tracks that we go to, different characteristics now with the new Abu Dhabi, all of those things."

Another decisive factor in making the sport more attractive for viewers, in Ocon's opinion, is the closeness of the grid, which has increased over the span of the last seasons, leading to him winning his first GP at Hungaroring and thirteen different drivers getting on the podium.

“I remember 2017, 2018 well; if you were finishing P6 it was like a win, you never had an opportunity, never, to be on the podium, to be on the lead. Now you’ve seen Daniel [Ricciardo], you’ve seen Pierre [Gasly], you’ve seen myself, you’ve seen many different cars on the podium, that’s amazing, it’s what we want, all, I think the whole sport."

“If somebody would say they are against that they would be crazy, so it’s great," he concluded.