Middle East heat will play into Renault's hands - Ocon

Esteban Ocon has no doubt Formula 1's season-ending triple-header in the Middle East will play into Renault's hands in the four-way fight for third in the constructors' championship.

A strong run had propelled Renault into a narrow one-point lead over Racing Point and McLaren heading into the last race in Turkey, only for the team to suffer its second-worst performance of the season in collecting a point from Daniel Ricciardo's 10th place.

That has left Renault now 18 points adrift of third-placed Racing Point, while a resurgent Ferrari has closed to within six points of the French manufacturer going into the final three races, with two in Bahrain - including the Sakhir venue's Outer Circuit - before the traditional curtain-closer in Abu Dhabi.

Ocon, however, feels the conditions in the two countries will favour Renault. He said: “We are usually pretty good on tracks where the heat is strong.

"Usually, we look after the tyres well. On all those tough tracks we are usually pretty strong so I look forward to it. The car has been performing well on those tracks and in those conditions so I have no doubt we will be there.”

Given the freak set of circumstances that prevailed across the weekend at Istanbul Park, asked whether there was potential across a normal weekend to close the gap, the French driver replied: "Yes, very much.

"I think we still have all opportunities ahead of us. There are still three races to go, a lot of points available on the table.

“Where we are, it can turn very quickly from one way to another, so I have no doubt that we will again be in the fight in Bahrain and in Abu Dhabi as well.”

Before you go...

Verstappen - "Disappointing" Turkey may have been last chance to win

Russell expecting 'wacky races' from Bahrain's "bonkers" outer circuit

Related

More F1 news

Latest F1 news

McLaren 'would have won F1 world championship with Daniel Ricciardo'

• 5 minutes ago

Lewis Hamilton drops heart eyes emoji to ‘hard launch’ Kim Kardashian relationship

• 50 minutes ago

Aston Martin ‘are now looking for a new team principal’ claims top F1 insider

• 1 hour ago

Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff 'overwhelmed' at emotional Lewis Hamilton reunion

• 2 hours ago

Red Bull star raises FIA alarm after worrying Aston Martin development

• 3 hours ago

Max Verstappen in private jet summit with Red Bull bosses after Chinese Grand Prix disaster

• Today 17:54