Manor Formula One rookie Esteban Ocon says handling blue flags during a race is “not easy” and adds that “compromises” are needed between the leaders and the backmarkers.

Blue flags were a much-discussed topic in the aftermath of last Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix, as several frontrunners complained of losing time in traffic.

Ferrari team-mates Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen were the most vocal in their criticisms, with the four-time world champion hinting that he lost out to Lewis Hamilton for P3 partly after locking up when lapping one of the Manors.

“[Suzuka] is a track that is so narrow and there are so many high-speed corners that when you are one second away you interfere with the guy behind,” Ocon said in response to complaints about backmarkers. “It’s not easy, we are not going to let them pass if we are three seconds ahead.

“The amount of time we lose, we try to gain 0.1s on a lap and then we let them past from three seconds ahead and we lose three seconds. So you have to make compromises.

“We fight for what we have, they also fight, so at the end we are both in our race and we try to make the best possible but sometimes it is like this.”

When pointed to him that the amount of complaints in Japan was noticeable compared to other events, the Frenchman added: “It’s always been like this. I think it’s not because the cars go quicker or not.

“I think also before when you are behind there was more aero on the cars and you are also losing speed. Probably they complain, if they complain for me it’s the same thing. I don’t care!”

DRIVER RATINGS: Japanese Grand Prix

REPORT: Rosberg wins in Japan as Hamilton fights back to third

Breakfast with ... Tetsuo Tsugawa

FEATURE: Silbermann says... Snapchat and soap in Suzuka

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Julien Billiotte

Recent Posts

Las Vegas GP: Thursday's action in pictures

The opening day of running at the Las Vegas GP was a smooth but chilly…

4 hours ago

Williams' headaches persist into Vegas practice

Williams is continuing to fight uphill battles this weekend in Las Vegas as a knock-on…

5 hours ago

Ferrari's Sainz 'not satisfied with where we are' in Vegas

It was a solid start to the Las Vegas weekend for Ferrari with Carlos Sainz…

6 hours ago

Norris labels McLaren long-run pace ‘shocking’ in chilly Vegas

Lando Norris didn’t hold back in his assessment of McLaren’s performance on the opening day…

7 hours ago

Hamilton delighted with ‘consistently strong day’ in Vegas

Lewis Hamilton was particularly happy with his opening day of running at the Las Vegas…

8 hours ago

Verstappen stuck with 'draggy' rear wing for Vegas

Red Bull fears that its prospects for this weekend's Las Vegas Grand Prix - which…

9 hours ago