F1
Laurence Edmondson, F1 Editor 5y

Esteban Ocon labels Max Verstappen unprofessional

Formula 1

Esteban Ocon has defended his part in a collision with Max Verstappen at the Brazilian Grand Prix and labelled the Red Bull driver unprofessional for physically pushing him in the aftermath of the race.

The pair collided on track on lap 44 as Ocon tried to unlap himself from race leader Verstappen at Turn 1. The incident saw Verstappen lose the lead of the race to Lewis Hamilton and resulted in Ocon being given a ten-second stop-go penalty.

After the race, Verstappen chased down Ocon in the driver weighing room and was filmed pushing the Force India driver in the chest. Ocon said he was surprised by the actions of his rival.

"What really surprised me is the behaviour of Max coming into the scales," he said. "The FIA having to stop him from being violent, he wanted to push me, punch me. That is not professional."

The on-track incident occurred after Ocon had endured a slow pit stop to take on new super-soft tyres. The fresh rubber gave him a pace advantage over Verstappen, who was nursing his tyres at the time, and the Force India driver pointed out that he was entitled to attempt to gain a lap back on the leader of the race.

"I was two laps behind Max, the first lap [after the pit stop] was a lot faster, the second lap was a lot faster, I had really fresh tyres basically," he said. "The rules say you are allowed to unlap yourself if you are faster, so that's what I did on the second lap.

"I saw I had massive pace, I went around the outside, the same move I'd done on Fernando [Alonso] and many other drivers coming from last in the first lap. It didn't happen the same way in the corner after that."

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