Esteban Ocon admitted it was a frustrating end to the weekend at the Hungaroring for the BWT Alpine F1 Team, with both he and team-mate Pierre Gasly being forced to retire with damage following a first corner clash.
Zhou Guanyu managed to out-brake himself going into turn one on Sunday afternoon, with the Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake driver colliding with Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Daniel Ricciardo, who in turn was pushed into Ocon’s A523.
Ocon was then pushed into Gasly’s car and was launched over the top of his team-mate, with his seat breaking apart in the incident. He was taken to the medical centre as a precaution but was released without injury.
“There is not much to say from today,” said Ocon. “It’s a very frustrating end to the weekend being involved in a racing incident with a few cars at Turn 1 on the first lap.
“There was not much we could do and the result was both cars had to retire with significant damage. Fortunately, I’m OK. Right now our focus is on regrouping and coming back stronger as we have another race next weekend in Belgium.
“We must move on quickly with the aim of heading into the summer break on a good note.”
“I just had nowhere to go and no chance of avoiding the incident” – Pierre Gasly
Team-mate Gasly was equally frustrated to retire, with his race coming to an end at the end of the opening lap as a result of the damage caused.
Gasly had made up a few positions by the time had reached turn one despite running two wheels into the grass, but the Frenchman was unable to avoid the incident, with the damage too severe for him to continue.
“It’s extremely frustrating for the entire team to have a double retirement, especially in such circumstances so early into the race,” said Gasly. “I was the unfortunate victim of a crash between a handful of cars and I just had nowhere to go and no chance of avoiding the incident.
“It’s disappointing after making a good start off the line where I gained a couple of positions.
“As a team, we have to move on quickly and we have an immediate opportunity in Spa next weekend to make sure we enter the summer break with points.”
Pierre Gasly was also eliminated in the lap one, turn one crash – Credit: BWT Alpine F1 Team