“I think it looked worse because”- Esteban Ocon explains incident with Lewis Hamilton that made it look worse

Esteban Ocon explains the incident with Lewis Hamilton in Imola that ended up having chaos in the pitlane which sandwiched the latter.

Alpine driver Esteban Ocon made an unsafe pit exit in Imola and got in slight contact with Lewis Hamilton in the pitlane. This incident caused the Frenchman a five-second time penalty and dropped him from his initial race finish of P11.

In the Imola GP, Hamilton had made a solid start from P14 and had gained three positions until he took a pit stop. The incident with Ocon in the pitlane and a slow pitstop by the Silver Arrows cost the Briton a lot of positions.

In the rest of the race, Hamilton struggled to get past Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri. He also got lapped by his former rival Max Verstappen during the process.

After the chequered flag, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff took to the team radio to apologise to Hamilton for giving him “an undrivable car.”

Furthermore, Hamilton has come under a lot of fire for not being able to perform in the W13. Meanwhile, his teammate George Russell has received a lot of praise for always finishing in the top five.

Also Read: Lewis Hamilton gives up fighting for the 2022 championship after disappointing results in Imola

Esteban Ocon does not feel completely responsible for the incident

Moreover, Ocon called the incident frustrating and believes that he cannot be fully blamed for the incident. He explained that a tube left behind by AlphaTauri blocked his path, forcing him to swerve further than he would have liked. Ocon said, “I had to squeeze Lewis because of the tube hanging there.”

He believes if this had not been the case there would have been enough room for both the drivers. “We didn’t hit each other, so that was okay,” the Frenchman stressed. “In the end, I think it looked worse because of that tube hanging in the way.”

Also Read: F1 fans fumes at Esteban Ocon for unsafe release over Lewis Hamilton in the pitlane