Pierre Gasly ran the majority of the race in fifth place and was on par with rivals ahead chasing the podium places. Esteban Ocon was also running in the points towards the latter stages after fighting his way up the pack, which included a sublime move on the outside of Turn 9 on Oscar Piastri, until a late red flag for Kevin Magnussen’s Haas hitting the wall.
That left a two-lap sprint from a standing start to the endof the race. Pierre ran wide at Turn 1 at the third restart of the afternoon, which forced an unstable entry back onto the track. Esteban looked to capitalise on a strong exit from Turn 1 and was unfortunate to make contact with the rear of Pierre’s car as both drivers picked up speed on the exit ofTurn 2. The collision between both cars forced both drivers out of the race.
Up until that point, Pierre changed tyres from Soft to Hard, under the first red flag on lap seven for Alex Albon’s Williams, aiming to goto the end of the race, while Esteban pitted on lap two for Hards, under theSafety Car for Charles Leclerc’s stranded Ferrari, with the same objective.
Esteban Ocon, started P11, finished P14:
“It’s a real shame for both cars not to finish today’s race, especially after showing great pace all weekend. We had the performance to be fighting the Ferraris and the Aston Martins, so to walk away with nothing is atough one for all of us. The restart at the end was very chaotic and everything went so fast. The clash with Pierre was unfortunate and I’m glad we’re both OK.We’ve spoken about it, and we’re all good and there’s no hard feelings. We’re both already looking forward to the next one and I know the whole team will want to put this weekend behind us.”
