“I am disappointed”– Jean Alesi explains that he had no other way except for barging into the wall with Niki Lauda’s historic Ferrari.
Two later to its original scheduled date, the Historic Monaco Grand Prix finally happened on Sunday but got surrounded by a massive controversy.
Jean Alesi crashed Niki Lauda’s historic 1974 Ferrari, and it appeared that three-time Marco Werner, who crossed the finish line first, was guilty of causing the crash and was penalized, which brought him from P1 to P3.
Alesi claims that he had no way other to go, as the corner where he made the crash was highly narrow, and at that speed, it was impossible to handle the car.
“When there is no space, you cannot pass,” Alesi said afterwards. “I am disappointed because I could do nothing to avoid hitting the wall. Also because we were having a great race, but I will be back next year.”
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Seeing that Ferrari in the wall 😫💥
Relive the moment Marco Werner and race leader Jean Alesi made contact!#SkyF1 | #F1 | #GrandPrixMonacoHistorique pic.twitter.com/34jvVrk71L
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) April 26, 2021
Marco Werner added more fuel.
On the other hand, Werner was immensely offended by the harsh 50 seconds penalty and claimed his innocence by interjecting that Alesi missed a gear, and to dodge the slower car, Werner made a move and ended up hitting Alesi’s car.
Werner refused to stand on the P3 podium spot to mark his dissent, which he received after the penalty, and immediately marched off from the venue.
This penalty made McLaren M26 of Michael Lyons win the race, and Porsche GT racer Julien Andlauer secured the P2 position from the race.
Meanwhile, Alesi wasn’t the only former Ferrari man to have an accident that day as Rene Arnoux wasn’t able to start the race following a crash in practice.