The hardest race of my career, I threw up in the cockpit, Ocon admitted after the Qatar Grand Prix. Holy sh*t, it’s going to be a long race, he thought

Esteban Ocon finished the Qatar Grand Prix in seventh position, having probably squeezed the real maximum out of his seventeenth race of the season. But as he admitted afterwards, it was the toughest race of his career. The track conditions were so unbearable that he actually vomited on lap 15…

A tougher race to watch. The Qatar Grand Prix was a really tough race, with the drivers struggling to finish the race.

Logan Sargeant was unable to finish the Qatar Grand Prix, having retired from the race due to nausea.

According to Lando Norris, who also commented on the issue, most of the drivers had significant health problems after the Qatar Grand Prix. Lance Stroll was unable to get out of the car due to fatigue, and some drivers in the medical centre were reportedly prone to fainting.

George Russell admitted after the race that this event was at the limit of what he could bear and if it had been any hotter, he would have retired like the American Sargeant. While the air temperature reached a maximum of 33°C, the drivers complained of much higher temperatures they had to face in the cockpits due to its humidity.

Fernando Alonso, for his part, complained on lap 34 about not being able to sit properly in his car due to the intense heat. However, the legendary Spaniard eventually finished the Qatar Grand Prix in sixth place.

Esteban Ocon was also in a very bad way. He admitted to his race engineer over the team radio after the Grand Prix that he had vomited on lap 15. And he subsequently confirmed these words in an interview with Sky Sports. Including that it was the hardest race of his career.

I threw up in the cockpit…

“It was the hardest points I’ve ever scored (seventh place – ed.), I was sick around lap 15 and then I threw up in the cockpit,” Ocon said of the very difficult conditions.

“Then I said: ‘F**k it, this is going to be a long race.’ I tried to calm down and remember that the psyche is the strongest part of your body. I managed to get it under control and finish the race,” Ocon shared his feelings.

“Normally I am able to go twice the race length, physically, muscularly and cardio-wise I am always fine. I didn’t expect it to be such a hard race,” added the Alpine rider.

Source: F1 TV, Sky Sports, Twitter / X