No further action after Perez/Ocon clash in FP1
Formula 1 drivers Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon have escaped punishment after a collision between the pair brought out a red flag in FP1 at the Emilia Romagna GP on Friday.
The first session of running at Imola was blighted by technical issues that impacted both TV coverage, and radio and data communications between cars and their engineers on the pit wall.
The incident occurred at Turn 5 some 36 minutes into the session.
Alpine driver Ocon was on a slow lap and tried to move out of the way to let the fast approaching Red Bull of Perez go past him.
However, due to a misunderstanding exacerbated by the lack of radio communications that made it hard for teams to tell drivers about potential traffic issues, the two cars made contact, with Perez's left rear touching Ocon's right front.
Perez spun to a halt on the exit of Turn 6 with obvious damage to the wheel concerned, while Ocon was forced to pull off the track and park after the corner. With both cars out of action, the session was immediately red-flagged.
The technical issues meant that no proper TV coverage was available of the incident, and no onboard footage was broadcast, and thus in the immediate aftermath it was not entirely clear what has transpired.
Both drivers were summoned to the stewards half an hour after the session, where they agreed that neither was at fault. The stewards decided to take no further action.
In the report of their decision, the stewards said: "Ocon slowed before Turn 5 in order to let Perez by, as well as moving entirely to the inside of the turn. Perez was on a fast lap. The two cars reached the apex at the same time, and just barely touched wheels.
"In the end, both drivers agreed in the hearing that it was an unfortunate miscommunication of timing between them, not helped by the fact that both drivers had limited or no communications with their teams at the time.
"Both drivers agreed that neither was at fault. The Stewards therefore take no further action."
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About this article
| Series | Formula 1 |
| Event | Emilia Romagna GP |
| Drivers | Sergio Perez , Esteban Ocon |
| Author | Adam Cooper |
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