Pit lane farce in F1 leads to horrifying near-misses, have a look at the scary end of the race won by Sergio Perez with the video of the Esteban Ocon pit stop viral
At the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Sunday, Esteban Ocon’s crash into a pit lane crowded with mechanics and photographers on the penultimate lap of the race caused chaos.
In a terrifying near-miss in Baku, Alpine’s Ocon had to make a required pit stop to follow the rules of the race on the final lap.
However, as Sergio Perez approached the checkered flag, a sizable crowd had been allowed to enter the pit lane and move towards the pit wall.
Ocon moved swiftly enough to avoid any injury, but it raises significant questions about how individuals were able to enter pit lane before the race was officially over.
Media personnel allowed into pit lane as Esteban Ocons heads for stop during Azerbaijan GP, video goes viral
this onboard footage of the Esteban Ocon pitlane incident is ๐คฏ
— WTF1 (@wtf1official) April 30, 2023
Esteban Ocon came into the pit make his mandatory stop on the last lap, but plenty of people were in the pitlane!
That couldโve ended very very badโฆ#F1 #AzerbaijanGP pic.twitter.com/Z4g0jHSSdp
— Fastest Pitstop (@FastestPitStop) April 30, 2023
Ted Kravitz said on Sky Sports:
This is a shambles, absolute shambles.”
He continued by saying:
That is a total and utter shambles in organisation.”
Karun Chandhok summed up:
A lucky escape. That was absolutely madness, to allow all those people into the pit lane when there was live racing going along. Absolute madness.โ
How does this even happen?!
An onboard from Ocon shows just how close he was to running someone overโฆ#F1 #AzerbaijanGP pic.twitter.com/mHMYaimN3f
— Fastest Pitstop (@FastestPitStop) April 30, 2023
Meanwhile, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was won by Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who displayed outstanding handling. He outperformed both Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who took the pole in Baku, and his teammate Max Verstappen, who came in second.
Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin and Carlos Sainz of Ferrari finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
Lewis Hamilton, the driver of Mercedes, placed sixth, and George Russell was eighth.
The race was pretty unremarkable, but the Red Bulls kept up their steady pace. Verstappen’s decision to make a pit stop while the safety car was in place cost him the lead and what was probably another victory.
A common sight on Baku’s streets was a parade behind them that caused the pitch to worry about tyre wear.
As Alpine completed a last-lap pit stop, causing controversy to surround the race’s conclusion, Esteban Ocon entered the pit lane, which was crowded with staff and photographers.
It was a spectacularly dangerous event where many people had to run from Ocon’s path. Pit lane access and process will therefore need to be enhanced.