Bahrain 2023: Maldonado’s record equaled
2023 is certainly not the year of Esteban Oconat least as regards the number of suffered penalties. The Alpine rider, already during the first GP of this season, in Bahrainhad entered Formula 1 history through the wrong door: with a total number of three penalties served in the course of a single raceFrench had equaled the negative record of Pastor Maldonadowhich in the 2015 Hungarian Grand Prix touched the same number of irregularities recognized by Race Direction when the latter competed in his final season in Formula 1 with Lotus.
Austria 2023: the first penalty in the race
However, in the recent Austrian Grand Prix, Ocon managed to do worse. In reality, during the 71 total laps on the Red Bull Ring track, the Frenchman had suffered only one penalty of 5 seconds not so much for his mistake, as for unsafe release the Alpine mechanics who (during the second stop of number 31) had dangerously given the go-ahead to their driver while the Williams of Logan Sargeant was approaching. An episode like many others already seen in the past, regularly discounted before the checkered flag.
The revisions after the race
The real problems, however, came a few hours after the conclusion of the GP: in Austria, in fact, one of the most disputed factors concentrated on the exceeding track limitswho had prompted the Race Direction to inflict numerous time penalty both in Formula 1 and in other preparatory categories such as Formula 2 and 3. In this case, Ocon seemed to have respected the limits of the track, exceeded by the other drivers especially in turns 9 and 10, at least until complaint filed by Aston Martinwho contested the failure of the marshals to evaluate numerous track limits crossed by various riders during the GP.
Four more penalties for Ocon
A protest accepted by the FIA, which reviewed the replays of 1200 episodes, discovering a total of 83 violations. Ten of these were committed by the 26-year-old from Evreux, thus suffering more than a single time penalty some when everything seemed to have already been decided. Judgments that partially changed the order of arrival, starting with the 12th place achieved by Ocon, who was subsequently relegated to fourteenth position due to a 30 second penalty characterized by two penalties of 5 seconds and another two of 10. If they are added to the unsafe release discounted in the race, the number of penalties has therefore reached fivea figure never reached by anyone before him in the history of Formula 1.
#penalties #Ocons #negative #record #FormulaPassion