Ocon on pit lane incident: ‘Crazy situation’
F1 News
Esteban Ocon started from the pit line in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, and chose the hard tyres to begin his race with. As his strategy was prolonged to await a potential red flag or a second Safety Car, it was decided that he needs to enter the pits on the final lap only to completely his mandatory stop. This almost led to a disaster.
On the final lap, the workers preparing the podium were already running across the pit lane, while Ocon entered for is only stop of the race, which created a dangerous situation.
"A crazy situation, really. Something we don't want to see. I don't understand why we were starting to prep the podium with one lap to go. We're still racing in that pit lane. I'm arriving at 300 kph, braking at the last moment, close to the line. I had to brake and avoid people. It could have been a major, major incident. It's something we don't want to see. It has been crazy in that regard. It is definitely something we are going to discuss," the Alpine driver reacted to the incident in the post-race conference to GPblog among others.
The French driver also added that it was not a pleasant experience for him. "It scared me. I mean, I am in control of the car, but I would not have liked to be the one in the middle of the pit lane there. Insane moment," he continued.