沃尔夫透露瓦塞尔自掏100万美元资助奥康首次F1参赛
梅赛德斯车队领队托托·沃尔夫透露，弗雷德里克·瓦塞尔个人出资100万美元，资助埃斯特班·奥康在2016年代表马诺车队参加半个赛季的F1比赛。奥康在2015年GP3赛季前加入梅赛德斯青训项目，并在瓦塞尔的ART Grand Prix车队夺得冠军。
弗雷德里克·瓦塞尔个人出资100万美元，资助埃斯特班·奥康的首次F1参赛
在埃斯特班·奥康的F1生涯或许正走向尾声之际，托托·沃尔夫和弗雷德里克·瓦塞尔发表看法，并回忆了他的崛起历程
梅赛德斯车队领队托托·沃尔夫透露，弗雷德里克·瓦塞尔个人出资100万美元，资助埃斯特班·奥康在2016年代表马诺F1车队参加半个赛季的比赛。
奥康在2015年GP3赛季前加入梅赛德斯青训项目，并在瓦塞尔的ART Grand Prix车队以惊人的方式夺得冠军：18场比赛中14次登上领奖台，其中包括连续九次获得第二名。
同为梅赛德斯青训车手的帕斯卡尔·维尔莱因经验更为丰富，当时已是DTM卫冕冠军，他在2016年与里奥·哈里安托一同代表马诺车队完成F1首秀，而后者最终预算枯竭。因此，奥康临时转投DTM、再次与ART车队合作，随后获得了参加该赛季最后九场大奖赛的机会——前提是他能凑齐所需资金。
“在梅赛德斯，我们接手了埃斯特班的管理事务，这其实是格温（拉格鲁，梅赛德斯青训主管）的功劳，”沃尔夫回忆道。“然后我们同意与弗雷德（瓦塞尔）在GP3合作，我们一起赢得了冠军。
“之后F1并没有真正的机会。DTM这扇门，是我们一起打开的。再后来，我不知道这件事是否真的为人所知，当斯帕站开始马诺突然出现一个空缺席位时，需要两百万美元，我们（在梅赛德斯）说我们可以为这个席位提供一百万，但还差一百万，弗雷德自掏腰包补上了这笔钱，给了埃斯特班这个机会。”
埃斯特班·奥康，马诺车队，托托·沃尔夫，西里尔·阿比特布尔，帕特·弗莱，弗雷德里克·瓦塞尔
奥康的F1生涯正面临威胁，因为他在墨西哥大奖赛上发生争执后，失去了本赛季剩余时间里的哈斯车队席位。他留在发车格上的唯一现实途径是凯迪拉克的第二个席位，但据了解，这位大奖赛冠军得主很可能将前往阿斯顿·马丁担任储备车手。
“评论另一支车队发生的事情很困难，”瓦塞尔说道。“我自己的车手们已经够我忙的了，而且我不知道在青山[小松，车队领队]、哈斯、车队和车手之间发生了什么。我不想发表任何评论。
“对埃斯特班来说这当然很遗憾，因为我认为他是一个纯粹的竞争者。整个赛季他投入了大量精力来留在F1，我们需要对此给予极大的尊重。现在，我不会对这种情况发表任何评论。”
沃尔夫补充道：“在所有这些年里，我认为我们都非常支持他，也非常努力地确保埃斯特班能获得尽可能好的机会。显然，之后他经历了几次车队变动。”
“我认为到最后，事情发展到了Ayao需要代表车队、保护车队免受某些言论影响的地步。而另一方面，Esteban个人认为他所说的话并没有错。归根结底，你必须尊重车队说了算这一点。车队领队需要决定什么时候已经够了，而这就是Ayao所做的。”
英文原文
Fred Vasseur personally contributed $1m to Esteban Ocon’s first F1 drive
As Esteban Ocon’s F1 career perhaps reaches its twilight, Toto Wolff and Fred Vasseur weigh in – and reminisce about his rise
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has revealed Fred Vasseur personally contributed one million dollars to fund Esteban Ocon’s half-season at the Manor Formula 1 team in 2016.
Ocon joined Mercedes’ young-driver programme ahead of the 2015 GP3 season, claiming the title in remarkable fashion with 14 podiums in 18 races – including a string of nine consecutive second-place finishes – with Vasseur’s ART Grand Prix squad.
Fellow Mercedes junior Pascal Wehrlein, who was more experienced as the reigning DTM champion, got to make his F1 debut with Manor in 2016 alongside Rio Haryanto, whose budget eventually dried up. Having temporarily moved to DTM, again with ART, Ocon therefore got an opportunity to compete in the last nine grands prix of the season – provided he could find the required funding.
“At Mercedes we picked up the management of Esteban, due to Gwen [Lagrue, Mercedes academy boss], actually,” Wolff recounted. “Then [we] agreed to work with Fred [Vasseur] in GP3, we won the championship together.
“Then there wasn't really an opportunity in Formula 1. The DTM door, we did that together. And then, I don't know if that is actually known, when suddenly there appeared to be a free seat in Manor from Spa onwards, it needed two million dollars, and we [at Mercedes] were saying we can provide one million for that seat, but we were missing one million, and Fred put the money in personally to give Esteban the opportunity.”
Esteban Ocon, Manor Racing , Toto Wolff, Cyril Abiteboul, Pat Fry, Frederic Vasseur
Ocon’s F1 career is at threat after he lost his Haas drive for the remainder of the season after a falling-out at the Mexico Grand Prix. His only realistic avenue to stay on the grid is Cadillac’s second seat, but the grand prix winner is understood to likely be heading to Aston Martin as a reserve driver.
“To comment on what's happened in another team, it's difficult,” Vasseur said. “I have enough to do with my guys, and I don't know what's happened between Ayao [Komatsu, team principal], Haas, the team and the driver. I don't want to make any comment.
“For sure, it's a shame for Esteban because I think he's a pure competitor. He put a lot of energy all over the season to be in F1, and we need to have huge respect for this. Now, I won't make any comment on the situation.”
Wolff added: “Over all those years, I think we were all very supportive and very strong in trying to make sure that Esteban would have the best possible opportunity. Obviously, then he went through a couple of team changes.
“I think at the end it came to the point where Ayao needed to represent the team and protect the team from certain rhetoric. And on the other side, Esteban felt personally that he wasn't wrong in the things he said. And you've got to respect that at the end, the team calls the shots. The team principal needs to decide when it's enough, and that is what Ayao did.”
Motorsport.com ·
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