No penalty in the crash between Ocon, Hülkenberg and Perez
The FIA has decided not to sanction any of the three drivers involved in the mid-sprint race collision, causing a safety car and thereby, the third title of Max Verstappen in the middle of the race.
During round 10 of the sprint race, Saturday night in Doha, Esteban Ocon hit the Haas and Nico Hülkenberg and hooked the Red Bull of Sergio Perez at the same time. If among the three cars, the Alpine and the Red Bull remained stuck in the gravel trap, the Haas was able to restart to finally abandon in its box.
« The commissioners heard from drivers No. 11 (Sergio Perez), 27 (Nico Hülkenberg), 31 (Esteban Ocon), team representatives and examined the video and onboard video evidence. Drivers No. 27 and 31 were battling for position in turn 1 and therefore had a slower exit from turn 1. This allowed car 11 to position itself on the outside before turn 2. The cars entered turn 2 three abreast, collided and went off the track. » explains the FIA statement.
« While the no. 31 was moving from the left to the middle of the track between turns 1 and 2 with the no. 27 on its right, Esteban Ocon was not aware that the no. 11 was approaching from the right side as his visibility was obscured by the no. 27. The sports commissioners determine that the no. 31 moved in a manner that would have allowed the no. 31 and 27 to negotiate turn 2 side by side if the no. 11 had not been there. »
The commissioners thus held none of the involved drivers responsible.
« Given all of this, the commissioners conclude that no driver is entirely or predominantly responsible for the collision. The incident is considered a race incident and no follow-up is given. »
This accident allowed Max Verstappen to be awarded the 2023 F1 world champion since his teammate and last contender for the crown, Sergio Perez, retired. This is the third consecutive title for the Dutchman.
