Romain Grosjean says he was shocked by the penalty he received in the French Grand Prix for his first-lap collision with Esteban Ocon.
The Haas driver received a five-second time penalty and two points on his licence for the incident which happened before the first corner.
An unimpressed Grosjean showed video of the collision to journalists in Austria and asked: “Did I move my steering wheel? Did I turn to the left? Did I do anything? It’s absolutely nonsense.”“I got the video this morning and when I saw it I was pretty shocked that I got a penalty for that,” he added.
Grosjean said he was edged into Ocon’s path by Charles Leclerc’s Sauber on his right.
“I couldn’t know if [Ocon] was there because from the beginning I’m almost on the edge of the track so I’m not expecting a car to be there. I didn’t see him.”
“When you see the onboard Leclerc is pushing me to the left, I’m going to the left and then he does a movement,” Grosjean added. “Obviously I don’t want my front wing to be damaged so I moved a little bit to the left as well but that’s all. I think they were drinking rose wine.”
Grosjean said he apologised to Ocon in a text message after the race but didn’t receive a reply.
“I think anyway they ruined their race in turn three with Gasly: [he] turned in, Gasly was there. What can I say? We’re in Austria, we move on.
“I had damage from that and then damage from when Sebastian [Vettel] hit me in turn three. The car was quite badly… there were two parts on the car that wasn’t ours and then the floor was damaged.
“That’s why we struggled a bit in the first stint and then I think the pace was good and I was happy with my driving during the race. It just didn’t come our way. We’re here, another weekend, I’m ready to go.”
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James Brickles (@brickles)
28th June 2018, 20:45
Having checked the onboard, Leclerc was starting to pull away before Grosjean inched his steering to the left, but I believe him when he says he didn’t see Ocon. He just needed a little more awareness to avoid that incident.
Hugh (@hugh11)
28th June 2018, 21:00
‘Lewis turned into me’
juan fanger (@juan-fanger)
28th June 2018, 23:01
Ooh, that reminds me – compare Micky Shu’s awareness of a car on the inside with Lewie Ham’s in this video compilation from Austria:
juan fanger (@juan-fanger)
29th June 2018, 8:23
Or perhaps this…
ajpennypacker (@ajpennypacker)
28th June 2018, 21:20
When is Grosjean not shocked by a penalty he earned? Although in fairness… I find it baffling that Grosjean got the same penalty as Vettel.
xman
28th June 2018, 22:09
Maybe Ericsson hit him ?
:)
Sush meerkat
28th June 2018, 23:32
Shock horror, Haas caught using Ferrari parts
Esploratore (@esploratore)
29th June 2018, 1:14
Ahaha, indeed!
Jimmi Cynic (@jimmi-cynic)
29th June 2018, 6:50
Assez choqué!
Soren
29th June 2018, 7:07
I’m sure he ment to say: “…there were two parts on the car that WERE ours”
Ed
29th June 2018, 19:55
The only things that doesn’t shock this guy are his own mistakes.
Cuz he can’t never explaim them