Following Esteban Ocon's return to the highest category at the start of the 2020 season, the French driver has had some particularly good races, however he has never been at the level of his teammate Daniel Ricciardo in terms of performance. Currently and after the Eifel Grand Prix, held at the Nürburgring, Daniel Ricciardo is positioned in fourth place in the drivers' championship with a total of 78 points, while Esteban Ocon occupies the twelfth place with 36 points. It is a difference of 42 points that are decisive for the constructors' championship, and even more this season as Renault is fighting for third place, as are Racing Point and McLaren. Some rumours have been around, which comment that Pierre Gasly is in contact with the French team to leave Alpha Tauri and the Red Bull academy to go to Renault after a possible replacement of Esteban Ocon. Today Renault’s team principal Cyril Abiteboul came out to defend Ocon, this is what he said:

“He should be very pragmatic about the situation, which is not a disaster. If you subtract the points he lost for lack of reliability, he would be behind Daniel [Ricciardo], but pretty close. " The French team boss commented.

Esteban Ocon has not had the best qualifying sessions, since, of 11 races completed, only in one he was able to beat the Australian. Although the difference in their times in that session was not overwhelming enough, Ricciardo always had the advantage of starting ahead of the Frenchman. It should be noted that Ocon has suffered three mechanical failures, the first of which was in Austria (which was due to the cooling of his car), the second occurred in Mugello (derived from brake issues), and finally, his car had to retire in the last race, at the Nürburgring, due to hydraulic problems. On the other side of the coin, Daniel Ricciardo has only had one retirement and it happened in the first GP of the season, the Austrian Grand Prix.

“We are talking about Daniel Ricciardo. He [Ocon] has never had such a strong teammate. He has had good teammates and Perez in particular is strong, but I think Daniel is even more. " Cyril commented. "You have to set realistic goals for yourself and also look at your current performance, so you don't have to be ashamed."

“Like many young drivers, he is sometimes impatient, which leads to small mistakes. But I'm not worried that this can't be fixed. And with the support of the team, that will be fixed." This is how the Renault team principal finished.

Cyril Abiteboul is relaxed and trusts Esteban Ocon. Every point that the drivers can get is important as, like we mentioned at the beginning, Racing Point, McLaren and Renault are in the fight for third place in the constructors' championship after a season long forgotten by Ferrari. Ocon must certainly improve to maintain his reputation as a strong driver, as his main point of comparison is his teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, as both drivers have exactly the same car. After the recent rumours of Pierre Gasly in talks with Renault, Esteban Ocon must reduce the advantage that his teammate takes him so that, despite the fact that he already has a secured contract with the same team for next year, Renault continues to consider him for a future.