Angry Alpine boss threatens “consequences” after Ocon incident

Alpine team boss Bruno Famin has publicly stated that Esteban Ocon must face the consequences for his maneuver against his teammate Pierre Gasly on the first lap of the Monaco Grand Prix.

The boss of the French team was annoyed because Ocon passed Gasly on the inside just before entering the tunnel at Portier and there was a collision between the two. They were in tenth and eleventh place at the time.

After forcing his teammate to the outside and causing him to be unable to advance, Ocon tripped over the front wing of the No. 10 Alpine and sent his own car flying. This mistake led to Ocon’s retirement with significant damage to the underbody and gearbox.

Although his teammate secured his first point of the season with tenth place, doubling Alpine’s annual tally, Ocon’s actions put this result at risk – which left Famin furious.

“Incidents like this are sad,” he said on Channel+ during the race. “This is exactly what we didn’t want to see. Esteban’s attack was completely inappropriate… We will accept the consequences. We will decide while it is still fresh.”

“This was not the place to attempt an attack”

The red flag was waved shortly after the accident between Sergio Perez and the two Haas drivers. But despite the almost 45-minute stoppage, the damage to Ocon’s car was too great to repair, so he was unable to restart.

Race control decided that the 27-year-old was at fault and imposed a 10-second time penalty. However, as he was already out of the race, the penalty was converted into a five-place demotion at the next race, the Canadian Grand Prix. The Frenchman also received two penalty points on his FIA Superlicence.

In addition, Ocon’s attack on the inside lane and the consequences of it left Gasly vulnerable to the chasing pack, as Ocon could have acted as a buffer for the team once the race resumed.

“If we were fighting for a podium place at the end of the race, why not, and again… But there, on the first lap, at Le Portier, it was honestly not the right place to try to attack, you didn’t leave your teammate any space at all,” said Famin.

Ocon admitted to the accident on social media during the Grand Prix, but further consequences are looming. The extent of these actions remains to be seen, but he can count himself lucky that the chasing group was unable to push Gasly out of the top 10.