The opening laps of the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix were full of drama.
Now, one of the drivers involved in that drama will start slightly further back the next time he takes to the grid.
Shortly after the start, three drivers – Sergio Pérez, Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg – had major crashes that took all three out of the race and brought out the red flags, but a little further up the grid there was another two-car accident between teammates Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon.
As you can see from this camera angle, Ocon may have been a bit too greedy in trying to pass his teammate: when the two cars made contact, the impact sent Ocon’s A524 flying into the air for a moment before crashing onto the streets of Monte Carlo.
Gasly was immediately unhappy with the move and lamented it over the radio:[w]”What did he do? What did he do? Why did he try to attack me?”
Race officials immediately recorded the collision and conducted further investigation, shortly after receiving a report from the race director. Ocon was found “fully” responsible for the collision and was given a penalty.:
“The judges reviewed the video and in-car video evidence and determined that car 31 attempted to pass car 10 entering Turn 8. This attempt resulted in contact between the two cars, which launched car 31 into the air and caused damage to the car.”
“The race was red flagged shortly thereafter, the cars returned to the pits and car #31 retired. It was clear that the collision was caused solely by an overly ambitious overtaking attempt from behind by car #31 and therefore the responsibility for the accident lay entirely with car #31.”
“The base penalty for a collision this season is a 10-second time penalty. This is what car #31 was given. However, because car #31 did not complete the race, it will be penalized five places on the grid for the next race in which the driver takes part.”
As race officials pointed out, because Ocon had retired from the race, the 10-second penalty given to him for causing the collision was changed to five places down the grid, meaning that he will be sentenced to five places down the grid the next time he takes to the track (likely the Canadian Grand Prix in two weeks time). Race officials also added two penalty points to Ocon’s Super Licence, bringing his total to three points.
What does this penalty mean in relative terms? If Ocon manages to secure pole position, he will start the race from sixth place.
Starting race week on the back foot is just the way it is.
