Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images
Ocon in clear after reprimand for missing parc ferme
Esteban Ocon's race victory in the Hungarian Grand Prix is secure after the Alpine driver got off with a reprimand for parking his car away from parc ferme at the end of the race.
The top three finishers are told to park their cars in front of specific boards in the pit lane -- usually below the podium -- but Ocon stayed out on track celebrating his maiden victory and ended up stopping at the pit exit. The Frenchman then ran back up the pit lane while his car was recovered, leading to a stewards’ investigation into him not following the correct post-race procedure.
While the stewards state Ocon was in breach of the race director’s instructions, they felt that he still took care to park his car in a safe place where it could be easily retrieved and handed him his first non-driving reprimand of the season.
“Race Director’s Note for the post-race procedure (Doc. 38) requires drivers who finish the race in the top three positions to return to pit lane and stop at the boards showing their positions located in front of the Race Control tower,” the stewards’ decision read. “Ocon, who finished in 1st place, failed to do so and parked his car on the track near the end of the pit lane.
“During the hearing, Ocon explained that he missed the pit entry and figured that the best place to stop would be close to the pit exit. He apologized and confirmed to be more careful next time. The Stewards do not assess this as a breach of parc ferme regulations. Ocon did not follow the RD’s instructions however and therefore a penalty as stated above is appropriate.”
Sebastian Vettel -- who finished second -- and fourth-placed Carlos Sainz also received reprimands for pre-race procedure infringements that don’t affect their finishing positions.
Chris Medland
While studying Sports Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, Chris managed to talk his way into working at the British Grand Prix in 2008 and was retained for three years before joining ESPN F1 as Assistant Editor. After three further years at ESPN, a spell as F1 Editor at Crash Media Group was followed by the major task of launching F1i.com’s English-language website and running it as Editor. Present at every race since the start of 2014, he has continued building his freelance portfolio, working with international titles. As well as writing for RACER, his broadcast work includes television appearances on F1 TV and as a presenter and reporter on North America's live radio coverage on SiriusXM.
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