Ocon’s first Formula 1 race seat required $2 million. Mercedes could cover half. In Brazil, Wolff revealed that Vasseur personally supplied the rest.
Esteban Ocon had won championships and earned Mercedes’ backing. Getting onto the Formula 1 grid still required another $1 million.
Speaking at Friday’s São Paulo Grand Prix press conference, Toto Wolff revealed how Fred Vasseur helped close that gap when a seat became available at Manor in 2016.
The opportunity required $2 million, Wolff explained. Mercedes could provide $1 million, leaving half the funding unresolved.
“Fred put the money in personally to give Esteban the opportunity.”
A first race seat at 19
Manor was a small Formula 1 team competing near the back of the grid. For Ocon, joining it meant his first chance to race in a Grand Prix.
He arrived with a strong record: the 2014 European Formula 3 championship and the 2015 GP3 title, the latter won with Vasseur’s ART Grand Prix team.
In August 2016, Manor signed the 19-year-old for the season’s remaining nine races, beginning at the Belgian Grand Prix.
Those races gave Ocon the opportunity to establish himself in F1. He moved to Force India for 2017 and later became a Grand Prix winner with Alpine in Hungary in 2021.
The revelation comes as his Haas season ends
Wolff’s account emerged during a discussion about Ocon’s current situation.
After Hirakawa replaced him for the remainder of the Mexico weekend, Haas confirmed Ocon would not return to its race seat this season. Rafael Câmara takes over in Brazil.
Vasseur, now Ferrari’s team principal, also spoke about Ocon on Friday, describing him as a “pure competitor” while declining to comment on private matters at another team.
They’ve worked together at several stages of Ocon’s career. Wolff’s revelation adds a significant detail to that history: when Ocon’s first F1 race seat needed funding, Vasseur personally helped pay for it.
