Fred Vasseur’s $1 million contribution to Esteban Ocon’s F1 debut revealed

It was revealed during the opening day of the Brazil Grand Prix that Fred Vasseur personally contributed money to get Esteban Ocon his first seat in Formula 1 with Manor in 2016.

In the Team Principal's press conference, it was Toto Wolff who stated that Vasseur put in one million dollars to allow Ocon to get into the Formula 1 Championship at the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix.

Ocon had already been working with Mercedes ahead of his time in Formula 1, as he had joined the German constructors' young driver programme ahead of the 2015 GP3 season, in which he competed for Vasseur’s ART Grand Prix squad.

During the press conference on Friday at the Brazil Grand Prix, Wolff said, “At Mercedes we picked up the management of Esteban, due to Gwen, actually. That's how we got to know Gwen when Gravity defaulted and then agreed to work with Fred in GP3. 

“Then there wasn't really an opportunity in Formula 1. Then, 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 were saying we could provide one million for that seat, but we were missing one million, and Fred put the money in personally to give Esteban the opportunity. 

“And 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, and 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.”

Vasseur was in the same press conference as Wolff between the practice sessions at the Brazil Grand Prix. In which he refused to comment on Haas’ sudden decision to part ways with Ocon.

“To comment on what's happened in another team, it's difficult,” Vasseur added during the press conference in Brazil. 

“I have enough to do with my guys, and I don't know what's happened between Ayao and 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.”