F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Ocon and Perez left off the hook by stewards after FP1 clash

F1's stewards took no further action against Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez following the pair's run-in in FP1 that triggered a red flag and halted the session.

Ocon and Perez were left stranded on the exit of Imola's Villeneuve chicane, their cars damaged by an apparent contact for which there was no onboard or outside footage due to a technical issue that plagued Friday's broadcast of the morning session as well various communication links.

The stewards therefore relied on the Alpine and Red Bull drivers' direct account of the incident, but left both men off the hood.

"Ocon slowed before Turn 5 in order to let Perez by, as well as moving entirely to the inside of the turn," stated the FIA stewards' report. "Perez was on a fast lap. The two cars reached the apex at the same time, and just barely touched wheels.

"In the end, both drivers agreed in the hearing that it was an unfortunate miscommunication of timing between them, not helped by the fact that both drivers had limited or no communications with their teams at the time. Both drivers agreed that neither was at fault."

The incident occurred 20 minutes before the end of FP1 and left Perez and Ocon respectively P16 and P17 in the session's standings.

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