Esteban Ocon has given an explanation for his incident with Lewis Hamilton in the pit lane during the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix. The Alpine driver drove away from his pit stop in an unsafe manner, narrowly missing Hamilton.
He then took the position from Hamilton, who had to swerve for the Frenchman. The incident earned him a five-second time penalty. Looking back on the moment and the penalty that followed, Ocon calls it "frustrating," given his initial eleventh place finish in Imola.
Ocon explains unsafe release Imola
Moreover, the Alpine driver believes that he cannot be fully blamed for the incident. He explains that a tube left behind by AlphaTauri blocked his path, forcing him to swerve further than he would have liked. "I had to squeeze Lewis because of the tube hanging there," he says according to Express.
According to Ocon, otherwise there would have been room for both drivers. "We didn't hit each other, so that was okay," the Frenchman stressed. "In the end, I think it looked worse because of that tube hanging in the way."