The stewards have cleared Esteban Ocon over his incident with Kimi Raikkonen in qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix.
Raikkonen had to take avoiding action after Ocon changed lines in front of him towards the end of Q1. However the stewards ruled Ocon made that move in response to Nicholas Latifi changing lines in front of him. The Williams driver was reacting to Lewis Hamilton in front of him.“The stewards concluded that what appeared to be erratic movement of cars was due to a combination of circumstances which they, and the two drivers present, agreed was probably unavoidable and was not dangerous,” said the stewards in a statement.
“Car 44 [Hamilton] was leading a line of cars on an out lap – in order, cars six [Latifi], 31 [Ocon] and 7 [Raikkonen], plus others. On the approach to turn 11 [Parabolica], car six slowed (ref telemetry) in order to achieve a reasonable gap to car 44 in front. This caused car 31 to have to take avoiding action by moving to the left, which caused car 7 to have to brake and move.”
Raikkonen was also heard complaining about Ocon’s driving later in the session, when both were on their flying laps. This was not the subject of the stewards’ investigation.
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Rodber
5th September 2020, 17:06
Massi and his men were seen leaving the Vatican earlier in the day, after swearing never to rule in favour of Kimi no matter what….
wsrgo (@wsrgo)
5th September 2020, 17:14
…I’m not sure I understand why the Pope would have something against Kimi, aside from the fact that it’s likely that Kimi isn’t Catholic while Ocon is. Still makes no sense.
Adam (@rocketpanda)
5th September 2020, 17:08
I’m surprised there was no investigation on Ocon’s driving during the flying laps – that looked pretty dangerous.
Jere (@jerejj)
5th September 2020, 17:12
@rocketpanda Yes, quite close to meeting the definition of brake-checking.
Billy
5th September 2020, 17:37
Except, you know, the braking part
Chaitanya
5th September 2020, 17:13
Why should he allow a slower car to get ahead while he is on flying lap? that looked Kimis fault more than anything else.
abananasplitz
5th September 2020, 19:01
@Chaitanya bc you dont block and weave in quali, i cant fathom how you people can defend Ocon here at all…
abananasplitz
5th September 2020, 19:05
YOU are not the faster car if you have to block and weave vs an alfa…
Carlos Medrano (@carlosmedrano)
5th September 2020, 19:53
The stewards let max get away with it every time he does it, they have no right to punish anyone else that drives dirty like that now
erikje
5th September 2020, 23:08
haha, you found another reason to speak ill about max ;)
Chaitanya
6th September 2020, 5:43
How can you defend Kimi who has 20 years of F1 “experience” and yet took part in this slipstream farce? Why did he not leave the garage sooner like Mercs did? He has no right to accuse Ocon of blocking him when he himself was trying to trip Ocon on preparation lap and into turn 1? If anything actions of Kimi reminds me of marathi saying- चोराच्या उलट्या बोंबा(chorachya ultya bomba) meaning a thief demanding justice for theft done by him.
LosD (@losd)
5th September 2020, 18:11
Kimi shouldn’t have been that close in the first place. They were both on flying laps, Ocon was not supposed to let Kimi by.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
5th September 2020, 19:32
Indeed, clear blocking, not saying he had to be penalized but he took an unconventional line to block raikkonen. Ridiculous fia.
Paul
5th September 2020, 17:18
The Monza stewards have all the balls of a eunuch. Yet another total cop out.
Balue (@balue)
5th September 2020, 18:00
Yes that looked way too obvious. I hope they realize that the new ‘let them race’ -credo is not meant for qualifying.
abananasplitz
5th September 2020, 19:04
quali is not a “race” period….
regs (@regs)
5th September 2020, 17:28
Ocon was also blocking Kimi on out lap. Was waving and outbreaking Kimi multiple times on the back straight. This kindergarten should have been penalized.
abananasplitz
5th September 2020, 19:01
+1000
regs (@regs)
5th September 2020, 17:47
“On the approach to turn 11 [Parabolica], car six slowed (ref telemetry) in order to achieve a reasonable gap to car 44 in front. This caused car 31 to have to take avoiding action by moving to the left, which caused car 7 to have to brake and move.”
That’s just a lie. He has been doing it multiple times on entire back straight. And he was accelerating both times after blocking Kimi, getting closer to Williams. And there was no Hamilton around.
regs (@regs)
5th September 2020, 17:47
record
imgur.com/swtSz7R
stefano (@alfa145)
5th September 2020, 19:57
clearly that’s what should be investigated immediately, but what do I know
kpcart
6th September 2020, 2:58
That was disgusting blocking by Ocon on a fast lap, he is obviously losing time taking inside line in turn one, so his lap is ruined, and then he does a dangerous block at 200mph. How on earth was that part not investigated? I haven’t seen that behavior in years in qualifying and he got away with it. Appalling driving.