Esteban Ocon will not take part in qualifying for Formula 1’s inaugural Miami Grand Prix after his Alpine chassis was cracked by his shunt in final practice.
Ocon crashed at the Turn 14/15 chicane in the early stages of final practice and it initially appeared to be a level of damage that would be fixable before qualifying which was taking place a couple of hours later.
But upon inspection of his car once it was returned to the garage, Alpine found his chassis was cracked and thusly it wouldn’t be possible to repair Ocon’s chassis in time for him to partake in qualifying.
We can confirm that sadly Esteban won’t be taking part in qualifying this afternoon. His chassis was cracked in the impact with the barrier and cannot be changed in time. Esteban is physically fine and will race tomorrow.#MiamiGP pic.twitter.com/iz8knwj7t0
— BWT Alpine F1 Team (@AlpineF1Team) May 7, 2022
Ocon was given the all-clear by the medical centre after the high G nature of his crash triggered a mandatory visit to the medical centre.
It continues a rough patch for Ocon who started the season with three successive points finishes but struggled to 14th place at Imola with a penalty for an unsafe release. He’s still ninth in the drivers’ championship with 20 points to team-mate Fernando Alonso’s two.
For the first time this weekend, Ocon is also running the upgrade package that Alonso debuted at Imola.
