Autobayng News Team
The stewards gave Esteban Ocon no penalty points for his collision with Franco Colapinto, in a further sign they have softened their approach this year.
Ocon hit Colapinto at turn two after the Alpine driver rejoined the track following a pit stop. The contact tipped both drivers into a spin.
The stewards held Ocon entirely to blame for the collision and handed him a 10-second time penalty. However they did not add any penalty points to his licence.
“Car 43 (Franco Colapinto) exited the pit lane on lap 33 ahead of car 31 (Esteban Ocon),” the stewards noted. “Ocon was gaining on Car 43 through the long turn 1. Colapinto took the usual wide entry racing line into turn two and Ocon attempted to overtake on the inside and a collision occurred.
“Applying the Driving Standards Guidelines, Ocon had no right to racing room on the inside at turn two because the front axle of Ocon’s car was not ahead of the mirror of Colapinto’s car prior to and at the apex. The stewards therefore determined that Ocon was wholly to blame for the collision and applied the usual penalty.”
The stewards have softened their stance compared to last year, when drivers routinely received one or two penalty points on their licences for causing collisions. Andrea Kimi Antonelli also avoided penalty points for colliding with Isack Hadjar in yesterday’s sprint race.
Any driver who reaches a total of 12 penalty points receives an automatic ban.
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Ocon said he was clearly to blame for the crash and deserved his penalty. “It’s my fault,” he said. “I did a mistake, I misjudged it. I’m glad that Franco still got a point, because he drove a very good race. We did good fights all the way until then.
“It’s a shame it ended like this, but he’s still in the top 10, so that’s that’s still very good. I deserved the penalty today, it’s very clear.”
Penalty box
Did the stewards issue the correct penalty? Cast your vote below and have your say in the comments.
Ocon’s penalty for colliding with Colapinto was:
- No opinion (0%)
- Far too lenient (4%)
- Slightly too lenient (17%)
- Correct (79%)
- Slightly too harsh (0%)
- Far too harsh (0%)
Total Voters: 24
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Published by
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 journalist, Keith began running the site full-time in 2010, achieving a long-held ambition to dedicate his full attention to his passion for motor racing. View all posts by Keith Collantine
