Esteban Ocon wasted no time complying with Haas’s instruction to let his team mate overtake him during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

But he also made it clear he felt the call to let Oliver Bearman overtake him came too early, to the detriment of his race.

Ocon’s race was already compromised when Nico Hulkenberg hit him at the start. However the damage to his VF-25 was minor and Haas used the opportunity offered by the Safety Car period to complete his mandatory tyre so he could run to the end on a set of hard tyres.

However later in the race he was caught by Bearman, who was on tyres which were both fresher and a softer compound than Ocon’s. As he was better-placed than Ocon to get in the points at this stage, Haas quickly called for a position swap.

Ocon, however, was unhappy to be told to let his team mate past earlier than expected. He pointed out Bearman was more than one-and-a-half seconds behind and indicating the call was not in line with the team’s pre-race arrangements.

His race engineer Laure Mueller acknowledged his response but told him: “Sorry, we have to.” Ocon duly slowed down significantly at the end of the main straight to allow Bearman to pass him. He lost around two seconds letting his team mate through.

After taking the chequered flag Ocon repeated his complaint. He told the team they had “a lot to review on the race, also, because that’s not what we discussed before the race.”

“I would have probably done things differently if it was clear,” he added.

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Ocon’s radio messages from the end of the race

Lap: 39/51 OCO: 1’45.588
Mueller 12 laps to go. If you can keep this pace, that’s good.
Lap: 40/51 OCO: 1’46.567
Mueller Okay please let Ollie past into turn one, Alonso is five behind.
Ocon Copy that’s 1.6 though, behind.
Mueller Yeah, sorry, we have to. Thank you. Car behind Alonso, 19-lap hards.
Lap: 42/51 OCO: 1’45.892
Ocon Positions?
Mueller You’re P14.
Mueller Nine laps to go.
Lap: 43/51 OCO: 1’46.044
Mueller Eight laps to go, you’re matching Alonso behind.
Lap: 44/51 OCO: 1’45.919
Mueller Seven laps to go.
Lap: 46/51 OCO: 1’45.642
Mueller Six laps to go.
Mueller Five laps to go. Alonso has increased his pace behind.
Lap: 47/51 OCO: 1’45.568
Mueller Four laps to go.
Lap: 50/51 OCO: 1’45.388
Mueller This will be the last lap.
Chequered flag
Mueller Okay, that’s the chequered flag Esteban. Mode in, box this lap. You’re P14, Ollie finished P12. Yeah, that was a long, hard race. Remember your in-lap procedure.
Ocon Yeah, copy that, guys. Tough weekend, really a lot to review, but yeah, a lot to review on the race also, because that’s not what we discussed before the race. I would have probably done things differently if it was clear.
Mueller Okay, understood. Verstappen won the race from Russell and Sainz.

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