Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas tops the Free practice 1 at Emilia Romagna Grand Prix ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton. Still, it’s the dramatic collision between Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon that grabbed all the headlines.
The incident brought out a Red Flag and further halted the Drivers running for some good time. With just 20 minutes remaining to the finish, Perez’s car appeared to suffer a puncture with Ocon’s Alpine at the Tricky Villeneuve chicane.
#ImolaGP stewards confirm Sergio Perez, Esteban Ocon collision was result of “unfortunate miscommunication of timing”.
No further action for either driver.
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) April 16, 2021
The stewards later confirmed that the whole incident came out due to an unfortunate miscommunication of timing. As a result, no punishment or penalty was imposed on either of the drivers.
RB16B of Sergio Perez took a heavy hit
Credits : Getty Images
FIA further issued an official statement in similar regards. As per them, both the drivers agreed that neither was at fault for this mishap.
“Ocon slowed before Turn 5 in order to let Perez by, as well as moving entirely to the inside of the turn,” read the FIA statement. “Perez was on a fast lap. The two cars reached the apex at the same time and just barely touched wheels.
“In the end, both drivers agreed in the hearing that it was an unfortunate miscommunication of timing between them, not helped by the fact that both drivers had limited or no communications with their teams at the time. Both drivers agreed that neither was at fault.”
The collision brought in some heavy damage to Red Bull’s rear left tyre and the Alpine’s front right. However, given the technical issues at the track, no replays or on-screen footage could be arranged for an investigation. Thus, neither the teams nor the broadcasters got an idea about the same mishap.
The day came up as quite eventful for some other drivers as well. Nikita Mazepin, Team Haas Driver also crashed his car into the wall on the exit of Rivazza 2 following some technical issues with his car. The crash brought in the second red flag for the session while hurting other driver’s efforts down the track.
Read More : Fernando Alonso “Still understanding” A521 Car Changes To Fight For Three or Four Tenths at Imola Grand Prix
