Up Next
Lewis Hamilton suffered front wing damage in an unseen second incident with Esteban Ocon missed in the Monaco Grand Prix’s television coverage.
Ocon received a five-second penalty for a collision with Hamilton at Ste Devote that was shown on the world feed live and on replay.
Hamilton was on fresh intermediates and tried to pass Ocon, who was still on worn wets, on the inside at the first corner but Ocon kept the place after the two made contact at the apex.
This incident was investigated by the stewards and resulted in the penalty being applied in-race.
But one lap afterwards, another collision occurred between the two drivers when Hamilton tried to pass again.
He moved to the inside of Ocon on the start-finish straight and as Ocon came across, Hamilton’s front wing made contact with Ocon’s right rear.
Ocon again stayed ahead and that was the last chance Hamilton had to make a move before Ocon finally came into the pits a couple of laps later.
“For f*** sake man,” Hamilton said over the radio. “He’s just put me in the wall, I don’t know if the car’s damaged.”
Mercedes confirmed it had inflicted front wing endplate damage. It is unclear if this incident was noted and looked at by the stewards.
Making the most of this red flag. 💪
Switching out Lewis’ nose for a spare.
Picked up heavy damage to his race wing battling Esteban. 💥💥 pic.twitter.com/I0QS4W88AT
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) May 29, 2022
Hamilton went on to finish eighth while Ocon lost his ninth-place finish because of the five-second penalty awarded for the first incident.
In reviewing that, the stewards judged that Hamilton was a “significant portion” alongside Ocon and therefore needed to be given “racing room” in accordance with the new 2022 driving standards guidelines.
Last year the same incident would have likely been viewed as a racing incident and Ocon felt aggrieved it wasn’t the case this time.
“Apparently we all agreed as GPDA that as soon as there is a front wing next to a tyre, there should be space,” he said.
“But… I don’t remember when this has been agreed.”
Neither Hamilton or Ocon mentioned the other incident post-race and were not asked about it because it had gone unnoticed.
Hamilton seemed uninterested in discussing the contact that led to Ocon’s penalty but Ocon was clearly frustrated by it.
“I was just covering the inside,” he said. “The inside line is wet, Lewis is on faster tyres obviously, and any overtakes that have been made in Monaco there was contact.
“You can’t list one in the last couple years that there’s been no contact, or leaving the track, or anything.
“We tried hard, we raced hard, obviously there was a bit of contact but that should be a racing incident. And it’s bit frustrating.”
