Ocon takes full blame: 'I have to apologize'

The season started well for Alpine with two cars in the points at the Bahrain Grand Prix. Esteban Ocon finished seventh and Fernando Alonso ninth. With this, the team scored nine points and are fifth place in the championship. However, Ocon has yet to apologize to Mick Schumacher.

Ocon happy with good Alpine result

Alpine has started the season a lot better than last year when Alonso crashed out and Ocon didn't get further than thirteenth place. The Frenchman let opposite Speedweek.com The Frenchman tells us that he is really happy with this race. "It's a great start to the season for the team," the Grand Prix winner jubilated. According to Ocon, the pace was high and there were some nice overtaking manoeuvres.

Strategically, the team also did well according to the 25-year-old driver. "In terms of strategy, the right decisions were made and my special thanks goes to the pit crew who had to do so many tire changes in this race." Ocon, like most drivers, made three pit stops during the race.

Apologies to Schumacher

At the start of the race, however, things still almost went wrong for Ocon. The Frenchman collided with Schumacher's Haas which then spun. The Alpine driver was found guilty by race control and received a five-second penalty. Ocon raised his hand after the race and took full responsibility for the collision with the young German. "I have to apologize to Schumacher for the incident, it was definitely my fault," he said.

Ocon had to admit that he was not far enough alongside the Haas to successfully perform the overtaking manoeuvre. He was hoping the German would see him, but according to Ocon that was not the case and he can only apologize. "I'm glad he was able to continue after the spin," he said. Neither car sustained any damage from the incident.