Esteban Ocon crossed the line in 11th place at Imola but moved up to 14th in the race record as he was given a five second penalty for the Alpine team that left his car unsafe on the track after a pit stop.
After the grand prix, the French driver said the incident in the pit lane, when there was even the slightest contact between his car and Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes, was not due to the team choosing the wrong time to him to the track.
In his opinion, the cause of the incident was that he had to dodge one of the AlphaTauri team’s air hoses, occupying neighboring boxes.
“Of course this is all a bit frustrating. I think it all happened exactly because of the snake, which was left exactly in the middle, – said Esteban. “He was almost hanging over the track where the cars were going, and he made me snuggle up to Lewis’ Mercedes.
We have to watch the video, but now it seems to me that this was the reason. If not, there would be plenty of room for both of us. Of course it is a bit narrow there, although it is clear that it is not safe to cuddle so close to another car. But that snake made it worse.”
As The Race confirms, what Okon is talking about is really evident in the footage captured by the onboard camera installed on his car.
As he entered the pit lane, right in front of his car, from the side of the AlphaTauri pits, there was actually a hose hanging down through which compressed air was directed to one of the pneumatic keys. Probably the mechanics just didn’t have time to remove this hose, as the Italian team had just left Yuki Tsunoda’s car on the track.
Therefore Okon had to turn left at the moment of leaving the pits and as a result he interfered with Hamilton, who lost some time as a result and ended up on track 14th behind the car of Pierre Gasly, who he could not get ahead of come, though he tried to do it in many circles.
Okon was in a similar situation, but behind Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin he finished 11th and lost three positions on a penalty. Then Williams driver Alex Albon, Gasley and Hamilton moved up one line.
Source: F1 News
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