Ocon hit with grid penalty for next race after Gasly clash

Esteban Ocon has been given a five-place grid penalty for his next race for causing a collision with teammate Pierre Gasly at the start of the Monaco Grand Prix.

Ocon attempted to overtake Gasly down the inside of Portier on the opening lap, but the pair collided on the exit before entering the tunnel. With Gasly unable to go any wider due to the presence of the barrier, Ocon’s left rear wheel hit his team-mate’s front left, launching Ocon into the air and damaging his car to the extent that he had to retire despite a red flag period.

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The stewards deemed Ocon to be wholly at fault for the incident, and handed him a 10-second time penalty that is converted into a grid drop of five positions at his next race.

“It was clear to us that the collision was caused solely by the overly ambitious overtaking attempt, from too far back, by Car 31 and was therefore wholly to blame for the incident,” the stewards’ decision read.

Team principal Bruno Famin also squarely blamed Ocon for the move on French television, with his driver accepting it was his error on social media having reviewed the collision.

“Today’s incident was my fault,” Ocon said. “The gap was too small in the end and I apologize to the team on this one. Hoping for a deserved points-finish for the team today.”

Ocon had earlier suggested it was one of his only chances to make progress into the points given the difficulty overtaking in Monaco.

“You know, you have to take care, but in the same time, we are doing 120% to be trying to get inside the top 10, for me, for Pierre,” He said. “We saw it yesterday, we pushed to the limit a lot in qualifying. Mistakes happen. That’s it.

“As we usually do … We review everything for sure, we try and do better for the next one.”

The stewards opted against investigating a bigger first-lap crash between Kevin Magnussen and Sergio Perez that brought out the red flag, with Nico Hulkenberg also eliminated.