Esteban Ocon has criticised some of the Formula 1 drivers, labelling their actions towards the end of the race in Melbourne as “suicidal”.
Late-race drama at the Australian Grand Prix saw two red flags deployed – the first of which was issued following a crash for Kevin Magnussen.
At the subsequent restart, four drivers were eliminated from contention, including Ocon who got caught up in an incident with team-mate Pierre Gasly.
The Stewards ruled that neither driver was to blame for the crash.
At the back, Logan Sargeant retired after hitting the rear of Nyck de Vries, while in a fight for the podium, Carlos Sainz spun Fernando Alonso on the exit of the first corner.
The Stewards opted to throw another red flag, which ultimately put an end to the competitive racing from Albert Park.
Reflecting on the chaos from his perspective, Ocon said: “My tyres were hot. I didn’t feel like it was very slippery.
“But what was tricky was a little bit the light being lower, we couldn’t really see so well. But some drivers just suicidal a bit in Turn 1.
“It was very close and obviously there’s a lot to gain at the time, but a little bit too much for some drivers.”
Prior to the late-race developments, Ocon was on course to score a point in 10th place.
Gasly was on for an even better haul as he was holding fifth ahead of the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll.
Ocon pitted on the opening lap under a Safety Car, but lost out when the first red flag was shown following a crash for Alexander Albon, allowing all drivers to undertake a free tyre change.
“We had a mega start. I gained three places. We decided to box on purpose to put the Hard tyre very early on.
“And obviously if there was no red flag just after that, we would have been like fourth or fifth. It would have been a very good first stint. So, that didn’t go our way.
“We lost everything that we took from the red flag. Then it was a very lonely race. Overtook the cars that had DRS so they were not without defence.
“It was very hard to pass them and we did so. Then the pace was similar to the Ferraris and the Astons in front. So that was very promising.”
Ocon: Gasly apologised for late-race shunt
Ocon played down the significance of colliding with his team-mate, stating it easily could’ve been any other driver in the situation.
He says that there are no difficult feelings between the pair and stated that Gasly came to apologise for the crash.
“Obviously a very chaotic restart then honestly, it could have been any cars that I collided with,” he said.
“There was cars coming back on the track, obviously Pierre was one of them. But no hard feelings. He came and apologised and as I said, it could have been anyone.
“I think it is quite obvious what happened. It’s not an easy situation when you have cold tyres or colder tyres than normal.
“When you are on the grass and you come back through the Tarmac, on that corner, it’s always [that you] lose the rear.”
