Esteban Ocon has criticised the stewards' decision to punish him for a collision with Lewis Hamilton during the Monaco Grand Prix. The Frenchman was hit with a five-second time penalty in Monte Carlo after he was accused of turning in on the seven-time World Champion as Hamilton attempted an overtake. The penalty left Ocon outside the top 10, despite taking the chequered flag in ninth position. "I think we did everything right in general," Ocon told Sky Sports F1. "We were racing well until we got that five-second time penalty which is not really justified, unfortunately. I am very frustrated with that because it ruined our result for today's race, but that is how it is."
Ocon: Hamilton and I were racing
Ocon says that he was told by the stewards that an identical incident would have gone unpunished last season, as he was forced to accept that his intense Monaco fight had come to nothing. "We went to a review with the stewards and they said if it had been last year it would have been a racing incident, so I don't know really what has changed this year," he continued. "If you want to overtake in Monaco, there has to be some sort of contact because there is no space to do so. Lewis was quicker behind with the other tyres and we were racing hard for sure, but we were racing for position, and we were racing at the end again. "It was fair racing, a bit of contact for sure but we didn't suffer so it is very disappointing and I am pretty frustrated."
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