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.”

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