Esteban Ocon expects more drivers will be penalised for being out of position on the grid this season due to Formula 1’s “big cars”.
The Alpine driver and Fernando Alonso have both fallen foul of the rule in the opening two races, picking up five-second penalties.
In Ocon’s case, he was slightly ahead of his grid slot in Bahrain, while Alonso was to the side of his P2 position in Saudi Arabia.
And the Frenchman explained why the stricter enforcement of the rule regarding grid position will continue to be an issue going forward.
“It seems like a stupid penalty that we get there,” he told Channel 4. “But it’s not as easy as it looks to park the car in the right place, especially with these big cars, how low we are sitting.
Esteban Ocon isn’t having the best day ?
Stewards handed him a time penalty for not positioning his car correctly on the grid.
He served that penalty but incorrectly, say stewards, and has now been handed a 5-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane. #BahrainGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/cGoJalZURd
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 5, 2023
“I honestly didn’t know if I was in the box or not in that race either, so I was shaking a bit, but honestly it’s very hard, and all the margins are basically nothing.
“If that’s the rule now and we need to be more cautious with everything we do,” he added.
“It’s the same in the pit lane, it’s the same when you box and when you serve the penalty and we’ve paid the price in Bahrain, somebody else paid the price today, I don’t think that’s the end of the story.”
Other drivers have also come out citing the poor forward visibility of the current cars to defend Ocon and Alonso, with the Aston Martin driver vowing to avoid a repeat.
“I need to review obviously; I made a mistake” he explained.
“When they told me five seconds penalty, I said okay, I need to drive a little bit faster to make [up] those five seconds. But I need to review.”