The first thing that strikes you about Esteban Ocon is his height. By normal standards he is reasonably lofty, standing at a lean 6"1, though not to the extent that people might do double takes in the street. In the Formula 1 paddock, however, Ocon towers over many of his competitors. The 20-year-old will be the tallest man in the sport this year, narrowly shading the driver he will replace at Force India for 2017, Nico Hulkenberg, by a couple of centimetres.The second striking characteristic is how normal Ocon seems. Whereas many young drivers can, quite understandably, come across as nervous and intensely media trained, the Frenchman acts more like your average 20-year-old, slouching comfortably in his seat and answering questions with a breezy calm. This is not to suggest he is unprofessional, but nor do his answers feel rehearsed or dishonest.He is also not entirely convinced that being tall is particularly unusual in F1 these days. "The young drivers coming in are getting taller and taller," he tells VICE Sports when we speak at the Force India factory. "You can check!"So we do – and he's right. Both Max Verstappen and Williams rookie Lance Stroll stand just under 6"0, meaning the three youngest guys on the grid are also among the tallest. It's the veterans who will be looking up to them this year: Felipe Massa (5"5), Fernando Alonso (5"7) and Kimi Raikkonen (5"8) are the most experienced drivers in the sport, but they're also among the shortest.Enlightening though it may be, we didn't travel to Silverstone just to talk about the increasing height of grand prix drivers. Ocon is a rising star of Formula 1, a man marked for greatness before he was out of his teens. After a part season with tail-enders Manor last year, 2017 sees him step into considerably more competitive machinery at Force India.Read more on VICE Sports.
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