Esteban Ocon has labelled the reason behind his disqualification from the United States Grand Prix as ‘stupid’ and it has left him with the ‘worst feeling ever’.
The Racing Point Force India F1 Team racer had finished eighth on the road only for the stewards to investigate him and his team for exceeding the legal fuel flow limit on the first lap at the Circuit of the Americas, with the Frenchman subsequently being excluded from the race.
“The Stewards reviewed the telemetry evidence, heard from the driver of car 31 (Esteban Ocon) and team representatives,” said a statement from the Stewards in the United States.
“The Stewards find that the fuel mass flow exceeded 100 kg/hr during Lap 1 of the race.”
After the decision, Ocon admitted his displeasure at being disqualified after the end of the race for ‘a stupid decision’, but he insists he is going to keep pushing in the next three races, his final three with Force India.
“Pushing the whole race, getting good points, and getting disqualified in the end for a stupid reason is probably the worst feeling ever,” wrote Ocon on his official Twitter account.
“Our mistake – anyway not giving up for sure!”
Speaking ahead of his disqualification, Ocon admitted it had been a difficult afternoon at the Circuit of the Americas, losing some ground on the opening lap as others took ‘big risks’ that he felt were not worth fighting against, while he also defended from Kevin Magnussen in the second half of the race, a battle that ultimately he came out on top of.
“It was a tough race this afternoon after a difficult first lap,” said the Frenchman. “I lost a few positions at the start because the cars behind me took some big risks. I decided to let them go because the risks were too big in my opinion.
“After that it was difficult to fight back because the cars we were racing [the Renaults] had already gotten ahead. After the pit stop, I had Kevin [Magnussen] behind me for the rest of the race. He was quick and it wasn’t easy keeping him behind.
“We definitely need to review our weekend and see where we can improve for the races to come.”
