Credits: IMAGO / Nordphoto
Lap one of the 2024 Monaco GP turned into a destruction derby, with four cars crashing out of the race. The FIA stewards found themselves busy, and had to decide on penalties for the drivers deemed guilty. F1 journalist and F1 TV presenter Will Buxton, however, was not happy with the job they did, calling the officials out for their inconsistency.
First, it was Kevin Magnussen who crashed into Sergio Perez in the first sector. It took both of them and Nico Hulkenberg out of the race. Soon, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon squeezed his teammate Pierre Gasly into the wall, leading to the former being flung into the air.
But while Ocon received a five-place grid drop for the incident with Gasly, Magnussen got away scot-free. In fact, there wasn’t even any investigation into the matter.
After the race, Buxton took to X and wrote,
“Either first laps have leniency or they don’t. Bit weird.”
The general norm with stewarding decisions on lap one of the races is to go with a lenient view. With all the cars bunched up and jostling for positions, incidents are difficult to avoid. Hence, the authorities refrain from handing penalties out easily.
Ocon, however, was not on the receiving end of this leniency. He received a penalty, whereas Magnussen, who appeared to have caused the collision, escaped without one.
The Dane will be breathing a sigh of relief. Currently, he has 10 penalty points on his superlicense. If his antics in Monaco got two more to his name, he would’ve been forced to sit out the upcoming Canadian GP.
Esteban Ocon to face additional “consequences”
The stewards were not the only ones to hold Ocon accountable after his incident with Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly. Reportedly, team principal Bruno Famin was furious. And he had some harsh things to say about his driver after the shunt in Monaco.
During the live broadcast of the Grand Prix, Ted Kravitz translated what Famin had told French TV. Ocon’s move out of Portier was deemed over the line by the French boss.
He also went as far as saying that Ocon would have to face “immediate consequences” and that a “tough decision” was going to be made within the team.
This further goes to show the discord within the Enstone-based outfit. There has been massive internal reshuffling with major names leaving the team in the last few months. Despite a difficult start and the scary lap one incident involving Ocon, Pierre Gasly did come away with his first points for the team this season.
