Ocon: Alpine double DNF 'a consequence of racing at the back'

Esteban Ocon says Alpine's catastrophic double DNF in Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix was an unfortunate consequence of starting a race in the thick of F1's midfield.

Ocon and teammate Pierre Gasly lined up respectively 12th and 13th on the grid.

But at the start, on the run down to the first corner, the pair caught up and overtook the slow-moving Alfa Romeo of Zhou Guanyu whose anti-stall had kicked in on the grid when the lights went off.

As they entered Turn 1, Zhou locked up and hit the back of the AlphaTauri of Daniel Ricciardo, who then hit Ocon, which pushed the latter into the sister Alpine car of Gasly.

Ocon was pitched into the air but landed heavily, which broke the Frenchman's carbon seat. Both Alpines were able to make their way back to the pitlane but a quick damage assessment by the team forced the pair into retirement.

• Read also: Zhou baffled by 'strange' start line glitch in Hungarian GP

"We just suffered a strike into Turn 1," Ocon explained. "It’s just a mistake from Zhou in the back. That led us to a massive hit.

"I took off by, I don’t know, three metres, four metres on the rear wheels. When I landed, there was a big hit. My seat broke in pieces, in two parts! So that tells how much the impact was.

"Unfortunately, both cars were out after that. Those are the consequences from racing at the back. People tend to take more risk. We knew it and we suffered from it today.

"We’re going to be racing next week and that’s the good thing because we can forget quickly this weekend."

Alpine team boss Otmar Szafnauer wasn't surprised by the damage suffered by the car's in the incident, or by Ocon's seat given the heavy blow which was "like bowling" into Turn 1.

"They [the seat] are lightweight, made of carbon, so if you come down on them in the right way they split.

"There was a concertina effect with one car hitting another leading to our two cars coming together in an unavoidable circumstance," he added.

"Right now, it’s a bitter feeling for all of us, a tough one to take, but we must keep our heads down and bounce back.

"We have another race next weekend in Spa, the final one before the summer break, where we will work for better fortune and a stronger team result."

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