Esteban Ocon has been cleared of impeding Kimi Raikkonen in today’s qualifying session.
Raikkonen made his unhappiness with the Q1. incident clear, complaining about Ocon on his radio. The Alfa Romeo driver failed to progress into the next stage of qualifying.
But after hearing from both drivers the stewards ruled that while Raikkonen may have suffered an aerodynamic disadvantage because of his proximity to the Renault driver, it was not sufficient to be considered impeding.“Towards the end of Q1 entering the final complex of turns, Raikkonen’s car was rapidly closing with Ocon,” the stewards explained.
“In the hearing, Raikkonen stated that because of the position of Ocon’s car through turn 17 to turn 18 his aero was affected negatively and that he was impeded.
“Ocon stated that he was advised of the position of Raikkonen by his team, and prior to entering turn 16 looked at the relative position. He felt that there was a significant gap. He then accelerated through turn 17 to start his lap. Raikkonen felt that by failing to accelerate early enough Ocon impeded him.
“The stewards reviewed the video and while they accept that Raikkonen’s aero may have been affected in his lap, the cars were never close enough, especially compared to previous cases, to constitute ‘unnecessary impeding’ which is the text of the regulation.”
[CBC show="y" country="nr,nl,pl,hu,fr,cy,gr,mt,pr,mx,mc,dk,no,se,ch,us,aw,az,ag,ai,ht,bb,bs,bl,cw,dm,do,gd,jm,km,ky,lc,ms,sx,tc,tt,vc,vg,vi,ar,cl,co,cr,ec,gt,hn,ni,pe,py,uy,ve,gp,mq,ca,za,ng,ke,na,gh,mz,zw,ug,is"]
2020 F1 season
- Pictures: Wrecked chassis from Grosjean’s Bahrain fireball crash to go on display
- Bottas vs Rosberg: Hamilton’s Mercedes team mates compared after 78 races each
- F1 revenues fell by $877 million in Covid-struck 2020 season
- Hamilton and Mercedes finally announce new deal for 2021 season
- F1 audience figures “strong” in 2020 despite dip in television viewers
Jere (@jerejj)
1st August 2020, 18:19
Quite often, drivers start to complain about other drivers impeding them even if the driver in front is a good few seconds ahead on the road.
Rodber
1st August 2020, 21:08
So, you can negatively affect another driver and louse up his aero by failing to move out of his path …..but not impede!!!