Esteban Ocon has opened up on the terrifying moment he came close to mowing down a crowd of people at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Sunday.
Ocon came into the pit lane at high speed at the end of the penultimate lap in Baku for a mandatory stop, only to find a throng of people in his way. Fortunately the Frenchman managed to brake in time and avoid any collision as the group parted to allow him through.
FIA officials had allowed photographers and others into parc ferme to prepare for the podium ceremony too early. The authorities later apologised for creating a “very dangerous situation” which left Alpine driver Ocon shaken up.
“It was definitely scary,” he said. “I don’t know why everyone was starting to prep the podium, we were still racing and there was all the time in the world to be doing so. It could have been a big, big issue for everyone there.
“I’m arriving at more than 300kph, leaving my braking as late as I can and they were just after the line as well so if I miss my braking point. I had to brake, I had to avoid and it was pretty scary. Luckily it was all good. I had no idea that they were there. I’ve never seen that before.”
The Frenchman later tweeted: “It was all or nothing today.. I really gave it everything but it didn’t go our way. Scary moment at the end there in the pit-lane. Glad no one was hurt but we must ensure things like that don’t happen again.”
Sergio Perez took the win ahead of his Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen, while Ocon came in 15th place in Azerbaijan. But the result was not the focus after the race’s conclusion, with stewards releasing a statement on the near miss.
"We noted that it was not unusual for the representatives to allow such persons into the pit lane just before the end of the race, in the usual course of preparation for parc ferme and the podium ceremony," a statement from the stewards read.
"However, in this case, there was one driver that had to pit in the last lap and this created a very dangerous situation for those that were in the pit lane at the time. We considered that it was fortunate that there were no serious consequences on account of what happened today.
"We stressed that the requirements of ensuring a safe and orderly event are paramount. This was acknowledged by the FIA team.
"We walked through the relevant procedures and protocol with the FIA representatives in detail and required them to take immediate steps to reconsider these procedures and protocols with the relevant stakeholders (including FOM, the teams and the FIA) to ensure that this situation does not occur again.
"The FIA representatives expressed their regret at what happened and assured us that they would do so in time for the next event."
