Today’s incident was my fault, the gap was too small in the end and I apologise to the team on this one. Hoping for a deserved points-finish for the team today.
Alpine Team Principal Threatens 'Consequences' For Ocon After Opening Lap Collision With Gasly
F1Monday, 27 May 2024 at 12:00
Alpine's team principal, Bruno Famin, suggested that Esteban Ocon would face consequences for causing a collision with his teammate during the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix.
The eighth round of the 2024 season at Circuit de Monaco ended for Esteban Ocon after just one lap of the race, when the Alpine driver collided with his teammate Pierre Gasly.
Gasly outqualified Ocon and started the race from P10. The 27-year-old was in P11, which meant the French team was in a perfect spot to score another crucial point this season.
However, Ocon decided to take a huge risk and almost destroyed the race for his whole team by sending a huge dive bomb on his own teammate into turn eight.
The 27-year-old squeezed Gasly on the exit into the wall, resulting in a collision. The race would have ended for both drivers right there, but fortunately for Alpine, a red flag was triggered because of an incident between Sergio Perez and Kevin Magnussen that took place earlier on the opening lap.
This meant that the French team's mechanics had time to fix at least Gasly's car, and he would be put into his original position on the race restart. Alpine's team principal, Bruno Famin, told Canal+:
"It's sad to see this kind of incident. It's exactly what we didn't want to see. Esteban's attack was totally out of circumstances. It was exactly what we didn't want to see and we're going to draw the consequences."
"We're going to make a tough decision. If we were fighting for a podium finish at the end of the race, why not, and still… But there, on the first lap, at Le Portier, frankly, it wasn't the place to make an attack, leaving zero room for his teammate."
Ultimately, Gasly brought the car home to score his first and Alpine's second point of the season. However, he couldn't hide his disappointment with his teammate's actions after the race, as he told Sky Sports:
"I am just disappointed. I am just disappointed with Esteban because it shouldn't happen, and for the team."
"We had clear instructions before the race and this hasn't been respected, and you should never take that much risk to take both cars out with your teammates. I'm sure it will be discussed and we just can't afford to have a similar situation in the future."
Stewards considered this incident and decided to award the 27-year-old French driver a ten-second penalty. However, because he didn't finish the race, this would translate into a five-place grid penalty for the next race. Ocon later took the blame for the incident, as he wrote on his social media:
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