Esteban Ocon accepted the blame for the first-lap collision between the two Alpine drivers which infuriated team principal Bruno Famin.
The two Alpines collided at Portier on the first lap as Ocon tried to pass Pierre Gasly. The contact launched Ocon’s car into the air, causing damage which put him out of the race. Gasly was able to continue.Famin held Ocon responsible for the collision. “This kind of incident is quite sad,” he told Canal Plus.
He said “Esteban’s attack” on Gasly was “exactly what we did not want to see and we will draw the consequences.” Famin said the team will make a rapid decision on what those consequences are to be.
Ocon later issued a statement on social media admitting “today’s incident was my fault, the gap was too small in the end and I apologise to the team on this one.”
“Hoping for a deserved points finish for the team today,” he added, as Gasly circulated in the top 10 during the race.
The stewards also ruled Ocon to blame and issued a 10-second time penalty, which following his retirement was converted to a five-place grid drop for the next race.
“It was clear to us that the collision was caused solely by the overly ambitious overtaking attempt, from too far back, by car 31 [Ocon] and was therefore wholly to blame for the incident.
“The baseline penalty for causing a collision in this season is a 10-second time penalty. This is what we imposed on car 31. However, given that car 31 did not finish the race, it will be converted to a drop of five grid positions for the next race in which the driver participates.”
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Tristan
26th May 2024, 16:36
I don’t know why they bothered implementing the “ahead at the apex” rule if they’re just going to ignore it completely. Sure he shouldn’t have done it from a team perspective, but from a racing one? Not so clear cut to my eyes.
AlexS
26th May 2024, 17:37
If Ocon did not went over to Gasly trajectory until he did not put the car more than halfway at least then he is at fault. If he stayed in his side to build a sizable advantage then there will not be an issue.
Otherwise you are just rewarding kamikaze bombs. Go very fast on corner entry and then go almost to zero to make it, then where the other driver can put his car?
Dale
26th May 2024, 17:42
You clearly suffer from focusing on one single bit of wording in isolation, and being blinkered to the rest, and to basic laws of physics.
Applebook
27th May 2024, 0:22
If they were not teammates, I have no problems with that move. It’s interesting that they punished a driver for a collision with his own teammate. Should we expect this sort of consistency moving forward? Of course not.
EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
27th May 2024, 2:31
Watched this a few times now.
As a move on a team mate it was pretty outrageous of Ocon.
Taking away the team mate angle it was still high risk but, as you say, not so clear cut. Gasly could perhaps have been aware enough of Ocon to back out. But he also may have assumed Ocon would keep more to the right. Similarly, Ocon may have assumed Gasly would have been more to the left and backing off as his perspective may not have taken into account the stepped barriers.
With this and the K-Mag/Perez incident I am beginning to come around to the view of those opposed to this particular GP (or the type of car they have to race with there). Both moves were pretty optimistic, but then there are very very very few chances of a clean move in this race, so whilst I obviously hold driver safety as the overriding priority, I am otherwise inclined to hope people do ‘have a go’.
Edvaldo
26th May 2024, 16:54
I never ever saw before someone driving so relentelessly against his own team mates like this Ocon guy.
SteveP
26th May 2024, 17:52
If you research a little, I think you might find that Gasly and Ocon make a perfect pair.
Dale
26th May 2024, 17:39
He seems like such a nice guy off the track, but on-track he’s consistently been responsible for the dumbest moves over the last few years, and they’ve almost always involved his teammates.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
26th May 2024, 17:39
I watched this race without sound (the bar preferred a live George Ezra covers guy, its been a very long afternoon). So sorry if this has been covered on commentary.
Clearly the Kmag / Perez thing was an instant red flag, how did the Alpines manage to get to Portier still under racing conditions? That’s a good while with how slow everyone was going.
Is the race director trying to get everyone through the first sector before throwing the red to affect how we restart? Even then the first sector is on the approach to Mirabeau from memory.
Anyways, Ocon and teammates, the red could’ve been out and something probably still would have happen.
GT Racer (@gt-racer)
26th May 2024, 19:24
@bernasaurus
No it’s something they started doing more for safety purposes & it was something the drivers also felt was better.
By holding off until later in the lap it gives the cars chance to sort themselves out & spread out at least a little bit which should minimise the risk of one car backing off having seen a SC/Red Flag board while another who’s right up behind him doesn’t & runs into the back of him (Something that has happened in other categories).
If the accident is further round the lap and at the front of the pack they may call it sooner depending on the circumstances but in a situation like this it’s felt that as long as a decision is made before cars get to sector 3 (So they can back off & pit or to give time for the SC to be ready to pick up the leader at pit exit) then they have time to hold off & just let things settle down a bit.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
26th May 2024, 20:17
@gt-racer
Ah. Thank you. Yeah, not often about F1 you get to say that makes sense, but that does. Though of course I’m sure in time someone find an opportunity to ‘game’ this approach, and Gasly might not agree right now. The greater safety consideration being the pack as the incident can be reached easily, yep, got it.
Jere (@jerejj)
27th May 2024, 7:01
I’m looking forward to finding out what those consequences & tough decision are.