Formula 1 São Paulo GP

Ocon unaware of second clash with F1 teammate Alonso in Brazil sprint

Esteban Ocon claims he had no idea during Formula 1’s Brazilian Grand Prix sprint race that he and teammate Fernando Alonso had clashed for a second time on the straight.

Jonathan Noble Adam Cooper

Edited: Nov 13, 2022, 10:01 AM

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Esteban Ocon, Alpine F1 Team, on the pit wall

The Alpine pair brushed with each other early on the opening lap on the exit of Turn 4, but the more serious incident came just before they crossed the start/finish line as Alonso damaged his front wing on his teammate's car.

Alonso was forced to come into the pits for a new front wing, and criticised his teammate over the radio. The Spaniard eventually finished 15th, passing Ocon who fell to 18th with damage to his sidepod after their opening lap brush.

However, Ocon said he had been unaware of the pit straight incident.

"I had no idea this happened," Ocon told media straight after the race. "I got told now. Yeah, I don't know how that's possible."

Ocon has been summoned by the race stewards at Interlagos for a potential breach of the rules over what happened.

While Alonso was unhappy about both opening lap moments, Ocon did not share the view that he had done anything wrong.

"That's his opinion, my opinion is different," he said. "I was in the front, so the one fighting is not me really. I was trying to attack the McLaren into [Turn] 4.

"I guess it's a race and we are trying to get the most out of everything, but today has been costly."

UPDATE: After the race the FIA stewards gave Alonso a five-second penalty, which drops him back to 18th on the grid for Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix, while he also collects two penalty points on his FIA superlicence, taking him to six for the last 12 months.

While Alonso was outspoken about Ocon on the team radio during the sprint race, he had calmed down after the event.

Reflecting on the incident, the Spaniard said the most annoying thing about it was that it cost him the opportunity to score some decent points.

"Far from ideal when, on a sprint race, you touch on the first lap, because the race is too short to really overcome the deficit of the pitstop," he said.

"Even though the car was great today, the pace, it was too short the race to recover.

"Just thinking of the positives, we're starting P15 tomorrow, we have a good chance to score big points because the car was surprisingly fast today."

Asked by Motorsport.com if the Ocon clash was similar circumstances to his accident with Lance Stroll in Austin, Alonso replied: "I don't know. I didn't see the TV properly so I don't know how it went.

"But I was sad that we didn't score points today, because at least my car was very fast.

"On his side it was a little bit slower all weekend. But on my side we lost an opportunity. But not everything is lost, because tomorrow with a long race hopefully we can recover."

Ocon's car caught fire in parc ferme after damage to the sidepod caused from their first lap contact at Turn 4

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

The sidepod damage that Ocon picked up in the Turn 4 incident may have contributed to his car catching fire in parc ferme after the race.

"The sidepod is completely open," admitted Ocon. "I don't know how it didn't fly [off].

"The car was on fire as well, so I hope at the end there was no more damage."

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