Paris (AFP)

Returning to his parents in Normandy, the French F1 driver Esteban Ocon (Renault) experiences days of confinement "quite busy" between physical preparation and virtual races on his personal simulator, as he told AFP.

Q: What is the program for your days?

A: "They are quite busy! I prepare as if I was going to ride next week. I do a lot of online racing on my simulator, a lot of sport too. The maximum I can. (...) I try to get closer to the program I had this winter, to continue the development, adapted to the conditions. It's a cardio day plus the lower body, the other weight training plus the upper body and target the neck and trapezius . It's a big physical work, more than on the small details. We don't know exactly when we're going to leave, so we have to type in the physical, try to pass a course. It's now that we can do it. since there is a lot of time. "

Q: Is it as if the winter break has extended?

A: "It's a prolonged winter break but it's still very different because it tastes a little bitter ... It's been a long time since it should have been finished and, with all that is happening, we are glued to the news every night, we see very heavy assessments and very difficult things happening in this world, so we are hoping to quickly pass this bad moment and quickly find a ray of sunshine. "

Q: How do you manage this uncertainty on the calendar of the F1 season?

A: "I put it into perspective. The important thing is that we are all in good health. Sport, in all of this, is secondary. It will resume when it can resume and everyone will be safe to practice the sport we love. "

Q: How do you prepare mentally during this period?

A: "The + mental + prep, I can't do it because I can't go to my training center which is in the Pyrenees (in Font-Romeu, editor's note). That's why I do a lot of It’s used to keep the pace, that’s what’s important. Riding a few hours every day with very good drivers helps keep you awake, keeps your reflexes. I can stay efficient on that and even progress over time. "

Q: Can it make a difference when racing resumes?

A: "I hope it will make a difference, when we come back, I will be more ready, me and some other young people (like Lando Norris or Max Verstappen, followers like him of + simracing +, editor's note). It's true that the real car, the real sport, it's always something other than the simulator, but it's the tool that comes closest to it nowadays and, suddenly, it's still a good thing. "

Q: Are you running to win?

A: "Oh yes! Really to win! I hate to lose ... It is also a bit why I did not do the virtual Grand Prix (of Bahrain organized on March 22 by F1 on its video game I’m training so much on Gran Turismo that to change the game, I wouldn’t have been ready right away. I don’t want to participate and make 5 or 6 in + qualifiers +, that’s not my goal. What I want is to win! "

Q: Are you in contact with your stable?

A: "Yes, very often! More or less every day. After your call, I have to call my engineer for a quick + debrief. Not really on the technique, I think, more on how everyone is doing, etc. And with the marketing team a lot, of course, because there are a lot of things going on despite the confinement. "

Interview by Raphaëlle PELTIER.

© 2020 AFP