Kevin Magnussen, Haas, Circuit de Catalunya, 2020

Stewards clear Magnussen and Ocon over practice incident which led to crash

2020 Spanish Grand Prix

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Kevin Magnussen and Esteban Ocon have been cleared by the stewards following the incident between the pair which led to the Renault driver crashing in final practice.

Ocon spun into a wall after catching Magnussen off the racing line between turns three and four. The Renault driver accused his rival of braking, but the stewards judged he did not.

After speaking to the drivers the stewards ruled: “Magnussen lifted and slowed using ERS harvesting; there was no use of the brakes that contributed to the accident. This was confirmed with telemetry.”

Haas had told Magnussen that Kimi Raikkonen behind him was on a quick lap. “Magnussen pulled gently off line, having been advised of following traffic on fast laps,” the stewards noted.

“At the same time Ocon was also moving to the right to let traffic by and was looking in his mirrors for the cars following. When he subsequently looked forward, he was surprised to see Magnussen directly ahead of him and swerved to avoid a collision.

“Both drivers and the stewards agreed that it was an unfortunate accident and that neither driver was to blame. The stewards therefore take no further action.”

Renault confirmed Ocon was unhurt in the incident and his car’s engine and gearbox will not need to be replaced.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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7 comments on “Stewards clear Magnussen and Ocon over practice incident which led to crash”

  1. @Jerejj Haha, this made me laugh as well for some reason, I think it is because after all of that mud slinging in the forum now there is no one guilty.

    1. Why do you feel the need to insult people voicing their legitimate opinions?

      1. Where’s the insult?

  2. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
    15th August 2020, 14:06

    From when I first saw the incident, to me it loked like Ocon just wasn’t concentratng fully. He had much more time to react and that was avoidable. He maybe should have just been loking in his mirrors. I also thught Magnussen didn’t break which he claimed and that turns out to be true. Clearing this incident was the right decision.

  3. Fair decision!

  4. And then he qualified ahead of Kevin later that day.

Comments are closed.