French F1 driver Esteban Ocon has admitted that Netflix’s Drive To Survive docuseries helped him land a seat at Renault alongside Daniel Ricciardo in 2020.
Ocon, who will continue to drive for the team under its new name in 2021, featured heavily in the docuseries’ first season, which covered the 2018 campaign.
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It highlighted the sacrifices Ocon’s family made to get him to F1 and how he lost his seat at Racing Point after Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll purchased the team and replaced the Frenchman with his son, Lance Stroll, for 2019.
After sitting the 2019 season out, Ocon returned to F1 in 2020 with Renault.
Commenting on his return to the sport, the Frenchman has said he believes Netflix helped him land a drive with Renault, though he emphasised that there were other factors at play as well.
“Filming started when I was active in the role of reserve driver at Mercedes [in 2019],” he said this week.
“Netflix put me in the spotlight then. I don’t want to suggest that I was brought in by Renault because of Netflix, but it did help.”
Earlier this month, former F1 driver Jaime Alguersuari hit out at the Strolls, saying he “cannot contemplate that there are parents of drivers who own teams”.
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