Ocon: Lack of Tepco barrier and 51G impact 'unacceptable'

Esteban Ocon says its "unacceptable" to endure a 51G impact at Miami's Turn 13 because of the corner's lack of a Tepco barrier.

In an incident in FP3 that mirrored the crash suffered by Ferrari's Carlos Sainz on Friday, Ocon spun on the exit of Turn 13 and heavily clouted the outside concrete wall.

Not only did the impact register 51G – fortunately with no physical consequences for Ocon, it also cracked the Frenchman's Alpine chassis which ruled him out of qualifying.

Ocon revealed that Sainz had questioned during Friday's drivers' briefing why there were no Tepco barriers installed at Turn 13, the presence of which would have significantly blunted the impact.

"What is unacceptable really, it was 51G for what should have been not such a big impact," Ocon said.

"To not have it and [for only] one car it has happened, but when Carlos has complained to the race director, we were all there listening to it, and nothing has been done.

"There was a discussion last night. Carlos said the impact was way too big for what it should have been. Today it felt huge, the impact. It's probably the biggest shunt of my career, to be fair.

"Yesterday Carlos got hurt. I got hurt today as well. The FIA should push harder for our safety. The important thing is that we're able to race, and I will be able to race as well."

• Sainz: 'Not easy to regain confidence' after FP2 crash

Ocon - whose knees were bruised in the impact - argued that a Tepco barrier would have certainly abated the blow to his chassis which therefore would have been repaired in time for qualifying.

"When a professional driver to the calibre of Carlos, racing for Ferrari, is saying something like this yesterday, I think the minimum is that it should be taken into consideration, and do the best possible to make a change," Ocon added.

Sainz said that he was at a loss to understand why the FIA had not followed his advice and added a Tepco barrier at the corner.

"I'm sorry to be critical, but I told the FIA yesterday that my crash at second gear shouldn't feel that hard, but today my neck was a bit in pain," Sainz said.

"I told them, let's put Tecpro there, because it's a very hard concrete wall. Esteban crashed, and I'm sure he felt it too. And it's one of those things that I will never understand."

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