Esteban Ocon issues penalty warning despite FIA rule change

Esteban Ocon

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Ocon issues penalty warning despite FIA rule change

Ocon and Fernando Alonso have been penalised for grid box violations already in 2023

Harry Smith

Friday 14 April 2023 12:27

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Esteban Ocon has warned his fellow Formula 1 drivers that more of them will receive penalties this season following the FIA's latest rule change.

The French driver was handed a penalty for a starting procedure infringement during the opening round of the season in Bahrain.

Another starting procedure-related penalty was handed out in Saudi Arabia too, with Fernando Alonso picking up a five-second penalty after he was adjudged to have started from outside the white lines.

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The boxes were widened by 20 centimetres in Melbourne following driver feedback, but Ocon has suggested that more penalties will be handed out due to visibility issues from inside the cockpit.

Esteban Ocon collected multiple penalties during the Bahrain Grand Prix

Grid-box woes

"There's going to be a lot more cars this year that are going to be penalised this year, that's for sure," he said. "It just looks silly that we get penalised for these things because it can seem so simple, but it's because we can't see anything from where we are sitting."

Ocon also highlighted how the grid box positioning rules have changed in recent seasons.

"It's an advantage when you are too far forward, and we've always been penalised if we were too far forward," Ocon continued. "Before we were not penalised if we were a bit more to the left or to the right, because it's normally not an advantage.

"Now that rule has changed and obviously, it's the same for everyone, so that's what we need to look out for and having it bigger should help."