Despite a visit to the stewards, Esteban Ocon managed to walk scot free after pushing Lando Norris onto the grass on Friday at Zandvoort ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix 2021
As Lando Norris tried to heave his way out of traffic into the final lap of FP1, the British driver found his path being obscured by Esteban Ocon. As he saw Norris creeping up beside him, Ocon decided to deliberating swerve towards Norris as he forced him onto the grass.
Esteban Ocon Escapes Punishment For Pushing Lando Norris Off The Track During FP1 Of The Dutch GP
And Norris was seething at the incident as he bellowed into his team radio, asking what was Ocon upto as he went onto talk about how Ocon had pushed him off the track. While Ocon’s view could have been refrained by the Red Bull in between the two, he was caught looking into his mirror which makes his decision far from an inadvertent one.
The set of events unraveled after a colossal 30 minute red flag period with teams and drivers in a hurry to get their cars back on the track for a final six minute push.
Norris had to take the scenic route past Ocon in FP1#DutchGP 🇳🇱 #F1 pic.twitter.com/DguXYb6QQ5
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 3, 2021
Ensuing the incident, both the drivers were called up the stewards to review what had transpired. And despite Ocon putting Norris in a pickle, he managed to escape without a grid penalty ahead of qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix on Saturday.
FP2 meanwhile saw a couple of red flags being enforced with the first one coming out after Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes suffered a power failure. The second was attributed to Haas’ Nikita Mazepin who yet again went on an embarrassing spin as he lost control of his car to breach the gravel on turn 11 at Zoldvaart.