Zhou Guanyu has escaped a grid penalty after the stewards deemed that he did not impeded Estaban Ocon during the first part of British Grand Prix qualifying. The Alfa Romeo driver was coasting through the high speed Maggots and Becketts section while Ocon was on his flying lap. While the Alpine managed to go past without needing to lift the throttle, Ocon still noted it to his engineer as being potentially dangerous. The stewards looked at it and determined that Zhou was initially passed by his teammate Valtteri Bottas, which compromised his entry to the corner and ability to move off the racing line.
Stewards decision in full
"Zhou was on an out lap during Q1 and was at the exit of Turn 11 and driving slowly on the racing line and thereby impeded Ocon who was on a fast lap. "However, in the hearing Zhou explained that he had to go slow to avoid Hamilton in front of him and had to stay on the left side of the track because as he entered the turn he was passed on the right by Bottas and could not have moved off the line without causing an unsafe situation. "This was confirmed by his in-car camera. Both drivers agreed that while Ocon was impeded there was not much that Zhou could have safely done in the conditions to avoid the incident and thus the Stewards take no further action."
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