The drive behind Mercedes' heir to Hamilton

Wearing a pressed white apron and black waistcoat, a portly Parisian waiter raises an eyebrow at the sleek, silver machine parked in front of his café. Holding the keys to the Mercedes roadster is Force India racer Esteban Ocon. Today he's off duty, in grey jeans and blue Farah jacket, enjoying the warm sunshine.

In the far corner of the Place des Vosges, Ocon slides into the convertible's low-slung driver's seat, disturbing the espresso-sipping locals by firing up the V8. As it barks into life, the crackle causes our waiter to throw down his cigarette and retreat into his café.

Roof down, Ocon motors through the tree-lined streets of the French capital, along the Seine to the Place du Trocadero, where he's recently discovered a new favourite eatery. Behind him, a sun-kissed Eiffel Tower completes the scene. "Not bad, eh?" he says, grinning.

Paris has never been a regular haunt for the Mercedes junior driver. He was born and grew up on the Normandy north coast where his father, Laurent, owned a car repair garage.

Living directly above the workshop, every day Esteban would walk past battered and bruised wrecks and a garage floor scattered with greasy tools, all surrounded by that unmistakably sweet concoction of four-star and Castrol 4X.

Descended from Spanish parents, Laurent Ocon was born in France and developed a passion for cars. A self-taught mechanic with a meticulous eye for detail, he established his garage business and one day decided to give his son a trial at an indoor kart centre. Young Esteban was just four and a half years old.

"I refused to get out of the kart," recalls Ocon Jr, chuckling at the memory. "People, including my father, were trying to get me to stop but every time they came near me I drove around them like a chicane. I was enjoying myself so much that it was the only thing I wanted to do."

Not only was he keen, he was quick, too, and his father nurtured that emerging talent, working tirelessly to fettle his son's karts to the best of his ability, being short of the finance required to buy Esteban the top-level equipment.

It didn't hinder the youngster's pace in any way. In his first two years of mini-karts, the seven-year old won an impressive 20 out of 21 races. The one that got away is ingrained in his memory.

"I finished in second place, but I was crying inside my helmet on the slow-down lap," Ocon recalls.

"I was convinced that the winner had done some trick with his engine because I just couldn't keep up with him on the straights. I was such a poor loser that I came into parc ferme and 'bumpf!' I hit his kart at full speed and the poor kid went flying. I think about it now and it could have been very dangerous.

"The following year the same thing happened. The same guy was ahead and do you know what? I stopped. I refused to race him. My father asked me what I was doing, but I said: 'He is going to win, so I prefer to stop.' My father had sacrificed a lot of things to help me, so he was furious that I didn't finish the race."

Ocon became regional, and then national French karting champion but, just like the boy who was so distraught at being beaten, today's 21-year old still finds losing hard to handle.

"The last time I cried after a race? That was Baku," he says, referring to his first-lap crash with Kimi Raikkonen in April. "It was hard to swallow. After such a good qualifying [P7] and a great start, I knew I was going to have a strong race. But then not being able to achieve something and watching [team-mate] Sergio [Perez] finish on the podium... the following week was probably the darkest one for a while."

As he sips on his sparkling mineral water and orders a steak bearnaise, F1 Racing relates the story of when we first encountered a young Ocon - at the Abu Dhabi young driver test in November, 2014.

In conversation, former McLaren team boss Eric Boullier had told F1R a story about how Laurent Ocon would find barely used kart tyres, discarded by drivers with wealthier parents, and fit them to Esteban's kart. His son would then outqualify the field using the old rubber.

"It's true," Esteban concurs. "Some karters would buy brand new tyres and throw them away after just two runs, so my dad would take them from the bin.

"When I became French champion, we did it on a very low budget. Other drivers would have big hospitality vehicles, while we just had a caravan and used second-hand parts that my father would cobble together."

Boullier was aware of Esteban's plight and knew this talent would be lost without a step-up in investment. At the time, Boullier was at Lotus and helping to run Gravity Sport Management. He arranged a meeting with his colleague Gwen Lagrue (who today heads up Mercedes' young driver programme) to meet the Ocons.

"Eric told me a few years ago that he took me on instead of some of the other kids because of my response to a question he asked me. He asked: 'What do you want to do next season?' and my immediate answer was: 'I want to win.'

"My dad tried to speak for me, but I stopped him and said: 'No, I want to talk,' and reiterated that no matter which category I entered, I wanted to win. Eric took note of that."

Gravity signed Ocon up and paid for the next phase of his career, a Formula Renault 2.0 drive alongside then Red Bull junior Daniil Kvyat, and ultimately FIA European Formula 3, where he became champion in 2014 (Max Verstappen finished third).

Ocon won F3 with Mercedes-Benz power and was invited to the German GP that year for a crucial meeting with Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff. It was to save his career.

Gravity were closely linked to Genii Capital, the group behind the management of the Lotus F1 team who were reducing their investment in both the Enstone outfit and the drivers they had on their roster.

For Ocon, the financial tap had run dry and he thought his racing days were over.

He started working at his father's workshop, believing that was his future. It was February 2015 and a new racing season was about to begin without the talented Frenchman. He made a brave telephone call to Wolff to see if there was anything he could do to help.

"I was so nervous," Ocon recalls. "It was my very last chance, but I had nothing to lose. I had no drive and I asked Toto if he had anything for me. He responded by saying that if Lotus didn't have any plans for me, then he would take me on. And he was true to his word, something for which I have a lot of respect."

At the eleventh hour, Mercedes paid for a seat at Frederic Vasseur's ART team in GP3 and Ocon officially became a Mercedes junior driver: he knew that he had grasp the opportunity.

He won the season opener in Spain and despite missing out on other victories due to time penalties, he ultimately took the series crown with extraordinary consistency - finishing almost every race (there was one disqualification) and claiming ten second places. This tactic was something he had learned from his F3 engineer Jean-Francois 'Jeff' Levere.

"He told me that you will always lose some points in a championship campaign, either through reliability or bad luck," says Ocon. "But the key to winning a title is to have enough points in hand to be comfortable when these things happen.

"So, if you cannot win, just ensure you finish second and don't try anything stupid. No one will remember you for risking everything to win one race in Spain, but everyone will remember if you won the championship. I was not the quickest that year, but I won the title."

After a bit-part season with Mercedes in German touring cars (DTM) at the start of 2016, Ocon was offered the chance to compete in F1 from the Belgian GP onwards when the Mercedes-powered Manor team split with Rio Haryanto.

His strong performance there led to a step up to Force India last season. The consistency he displayed in GP3 continued in F1.

Despite three prominent on-track clashes with his Force India team-mate Pérez last year (Baku, Canada and Spa), Ocon didn't actually retire from an F1 race until the Brazilian GP, when he tangled with Romain Grosjean on the opening lap.

Statistically, Ocon has managed to finish the first 27 races of his career - the most of any driver in the history of the sport.

Force India's team bosses were forced to act over their drivers' on-track misdemeanours and Ocon reveals that both have learned from their experience.

"What happened before was unacceptable and if we come close again there will be more than enough room for both of us," he says. "Given our performance this year, it's much more critical that we score points.

"We had a moment in China this year where Checo pushed me onto the grass at the start. But we discussed it straight away and he apologised because he didn't know it was me. We could have lost both cars and we're not in a position where we can afford to do that this year."

Ocon is tall at six foot one (186cm) and with weight - or the lack of it - still an important factor for a modern grand prix driver, he is very conscious of his dietary intake.

"I have 4.8% fat," he mentions. But he delights today in being able to order dessert. He refuses to eat everything on his plate though, sharing his chouquettes (a delicious chocolate and cream puff pastry) around the table.

Reiterating how thankful he was to Wolff at Mercedes, he discusses the future and whether, ultimately, a seat with the championship-winning top team could be an option.

But to be considered for that honour, Ocon will need to display again those extraordinary feats of consistency and to regularly outqualify and outscore his Force India team-mate. Last year, despite pushing him close, Ocon finished 13 points and one place behind Pérez in the drivers' championship.

"I have to perform with Force India," he says. "Like last year, Mercedes have set targets, but they are higher to reach and at a higher level than last year. That's normal, I'm more experienced and I'm in my second year with the team. At the moment I am respecting them, so they are happy and I just have to keep doing the job I'm doing.

"I get good advice from Mercedes; I can go there whenever I want to look at data from the cars and they will ultimately decide my future career.

"As a junior the most logical thing would be to step up to the Silver Arrows in the future - it's just a matter of if they are happy with me."

You can understand why missing out on a potential podium in Azerbaijan was so crucial for Ocon, particularly as he strives to cement his future with Mercedes in F1.

As he's proved, setbacks have characterised his career but he's bounced back from them every time. Just like that four-year old driving a kart for the very first time, the prospect of not having a drive is something he just won't countenance.