Fernando Alonso explains how Lewis Hamilton cost Esteban Ocon points at Monaco Grand Prix

Ocon finished outside the points in 12th thanks to a time penalty

Sarah Rendell
Monday 30 May 2022 11:11 BST
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Alonso finished ahead of Hamilton in Monaco
Alonso finished ahead of Hamilton in Monaco (Getty Images)

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Fernando Alonso says Lewis Hamilton cost Esteban Ocon points at the Monaco Grand Prix after the pair collided.

The coming together between Hamilton and Ocon gave the Alpine driver a five-second time penalty and when Alonso heard he stepped up the pace to try and help out his teammate. But Hamilton, who was behind Alonso but in front of Ocon, didn’t push the same which meant Ocon didn’t go faster to make up for the penalty.

“We had to do a lot of tyre management,” said Alonso. “We had some concerns that the yellow tyres (medium) could grain a lot on our car, and the first 10 or 15 laps I took care of the tyres a lot.

“After that I pushed again when they told me Esteban had to make a five-second gap, but at that point Hamilton didn’t want to push, hold Esteban at the back – yeah, disappointing.”

Ocon finished in 12th thanks to the penalty, without it he would have been ninth. Despite the disappointment of his teammate missing out, Alonso himself was happy with his seventh place finish.

“It was a very tricky race, to be honest, very interesting I guess from the outside,” he said. “All kind of conditions, not raceable at the beginning, red flags and no visibility, then very poor grip, then intermediates, then dry tyres, then the crash.

“And an another mini-race of 33 laps, so all in all a difficult afternoon to execute on the driving aspect but also the team strategy, so we are happy with seventh.”

The Alpine team will next have the opportunity to bag points at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on 12 June.

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