by Why did Ocon disregard Team Alpine’s orders?
Esteban Ocon impressed with a strong fourth place in Las Vegas. However, this was overshadowed by the fact that he overtook teammate Pierre Gasly on one occasion despite the team issuing an overtaking ban.
Ocon received instructions over the radio to maintain position behind Gasly, but he passed anyway. Opposite Sky He justifies his actions after the race by saying that he simply did not understand the instructions.
“Hold position,” the team demanded over the radio, but Ocon assured: “All I heard was the word position.” The Frenchman also explains: “If the team asked me to give up my position, of course I would do it immediately.”
However, this did not happen, because although Gasly had tire problems and lost points, Ocon was fourth. Ultimately, there were seven spots between the two Alpine drivers.
Perez: The comeback is my personal highlight
In the real World Cup, the Mexican has been runner-up for the first time in his career since the weekend. That’s why he looks back on the 2023 season with mixed feelings.
“It was a really difficult year. It started really well, we were fighting for the championship. But then in Barcelona we had such a dominant car but I just couldn’t set it up right,” he explains.
Then he went into a negative spiral and lost his self-confidence. Therefore, his personal “highlight” this year was the fight against the crisis.
He emphasized that he managed to “consistently fight at the top throughout the rest of the year.” Although there may be differences of opinion, because Las Vegas was his first podium since Monza…
Perez is the world champion!
At least in our alternative World Cup, in which Max Verstappen does not take part 😉 The decision was made during the weekend in Las Vegas! Just look at our photo gallery:
Photo series: Alternative Formula 1: This is what the 2023 season would look like without Max Verstappen!
1. Bahrain: Red Bull would have won the first part in Bahrain anyway, with Sergio Perez obviously taking the lead in the World Cup. Fernando Alonso is second and Carlos Sainz could join him on the podium. In position: 1. Perez (25), 2. Alonso (18), 3. Sainz (15), 4. Hamilton (12), 5. Stroll (10).
A series of photos
Leclerc: Las Vegas is not representative
And speaking of Ferrari: Charles Leclerc doesn’t want to overemphasize the strong results over the weekend, as he insists that there were conditions in Vegas that don’t exist “elsewhere”.
“It’s very, very cold and I think we’re overheating [der Reifen] not a big problem here. It was more about grit and keeping the tires at the right temperature, and we are quite good at that,” he emphasizes.
“But when it gets warmer, we have to struggle more. It doesn’t fill me with confidence for the future because Abu Dhabi will be completely different than here,” Monaco predicts.
Because it will be much warmer there than at night in Vegas…
Leclerc deprived of safe race victory by safety car!
With his 53rd career victory in Las Vegas, Max Verstappen equaled Sebastian Vettel on the list of all-time Formula 1 winners. But given Ferrari’s good results, he had to work hard for it!
Should the Scuderia recall Charles Leclerc to pit under the second safety car? Data expert Kevin Hermann assessed this in our new video using PACETEQ’s OneTiming strategy tool.
Leclerc deprived of safe race victory by safety car!
With his 53rd career victory in Las Vegas, Max Verstappen moved level with Sebastian Vettel on the list of all-time Formula 1 winners.
More videos about Formula 1
Ten Friday drivers in Abu Dhabi
This year too, every regular driver must miss at least one practice session and hand over his car to a young driver. But as many as ten drivers have not done it yet!
This means that we will see ten Friday drivers in FT1 in Abu Dhabi on Friday. The following pilot programs have already been confirmed:
Red Bull: Jake Dennis and Isack Hadjar
Mercedes: Frederik Vesti
Alpine: Jack Doohan
McLaren: Patricio O’Ward
Alfa Romeo: Theo Pourchaire
Aston Martin: Felipe Drugovich
Haas: Oliver Bearman
Williams: Zak O’Sullivan
We will probably see Robert Schwarzman again at Ferrari, but this has not been officially confirmed yet.
A complete overview of all Friday drivers in 2023 can be found here!
More controversy…
… in this series of photos you will find everything about stable management. Let’s put it this way: by comparison, the weekend incident at Alpine was still harmless!
Photo series: The most controversial stable orders in Formula 1 history
Welcome back!
Welcome to the new edition of our Formula 1 newsletter. The 2023 season finale in Abu Dhabi is fast approaching, and the last media day of the year will take place the day after tomorrow.
We don’t want to waste a lot of time and start right away because we still have some exciting topics between Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi that we want to work on!
Ruben Zimmermann will accompany you throughout the day, and if you have any questions, suggestions or complaints, you can use our contact form. You can also find us on Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube, and if you have any questions, you can also use our Twitter hashtag #FragMST. Here we go!
You can read our yesterday’s ticker again here!
