No penalty points for Ocon after his Unsafe release at Imola
The FIA has decided not to penalize Esteban Ocon on his license points following the unsafe release made by his team at Imola.
The Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix started on a wet track. After about twenty laps, all the drivers went through their pit stops to swap their wet tires for slicks due to the improved grip on the asphalt at Imola.
Esteban Ocon’s Alpine and Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes both stopped in the same lap. At the moment when the tricolor car was released, the silver arrow passed in front of the Normand’s pit, and it was very close to the two cars colliding. Following this dangerous maneuver, Ocon received a five-second penalty on his race time. However, this had no impact on his final ranking, as Alonso’s teammate was already outside the points zone.
On the other hand, the consequences were heavier for Hamilton. Without his braking to avoid the Alpine, he would certainly have come out in front of Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri, and therefore wouldn’t have spent most of his race trying to find a way past the Italian car.
Furthermore, no points were deducted from Ocon following this dangerous move on the track. The FIA stated that the violation was committed by the team.
