Esteban Ocon missed out on points at the 2026 F1 Chinese GP — again. He finished the race P14, after a collission with Alpine driver Franco Colapinto. He served a 10 second penalty for it. After another point-less race weekend, Ocon is currently P17 in the 2026 F1 driver standings with 0 points.
“I deserve the penatly” — Ocon on his collision with Colapinto at the 2026 Chinese GP
After having a good start at the 2026 Chinese GP, Esteban Ocon made it into the Top 10 after the first few laps of the F1 race. The pace looks promising.
However, unfortunate timing and his own mistake result in the Haas driver dropping out of the points. Having started on the hards, the lap 10 deployment of the safety car was a disaster, giving those on mediums and softs a free stop basically.
“Yeah, unfortunately that’s the whole cause today of where we are and where we drop from outside the points. Unfortunately we were looking very good at the start,” explains Ocon.
On lap 34 of 56 of the 2026 Chinese GP, Esteban Ocon causes a collision with Alpine’s Franco Colapinto. The Frenchman tried to go for a gap on the inside at turn 2 but backs out too late. As a result, both of them made contact and spin around. The consequence: 10 seconds for Ocon.
Ocon expresses his delight that Colapinto scored a point despite their collision. He admits that it was his fault. The 29-year-old states that the timings of the safety car and virtual safety car were a reason for no points so far. It happend at the Australian GP, and again at the Chinese GP.
In fact, the one-time winner is convinced P5 and P6 was possible for Colapinto and himself without the safety car intervention.
“I was fighting with Franco [Colapinto] the whole race, so that’s clearly my fault on that last incident. I was a bit over-optimistic and the gap was not really there.
“There was one point to catch, which for me and him there should have been a lot more today. Probably a P5 or 6 maybe we could have been in, looking at the pace we had on the hard compared to the new hards. I’m glad he still scored a point because he drove a good race.
“I deserve the penalty and nothing much more to say. Only that there’s been two races in a row that we get the safety cars or virtual safety cars at the wrong timing, while there’s a lot of points to grab. Same in Australia, same here. It doesn’t go our way at the moment.”
More points call for desperate measures?
The midfield is very close pace-wise, particularly Haas vs Alpine in Shanghai.
Does that mean that they have to risk it all and go for the gap at all times? “No. Not really,” answers Ocon. “It was more of a desperate move because we were P5 or 6 actually on track before the safety car came. On real positions that’s where we were. There was only one more point to grab, so that was the only point for Franco [Colapinto] to try and get. It was either I get him or it was nothing today. It was taking all the risks, but it should have ended that way. It was a bit over-optimistic,” he clarifies.
After the race, Ocon made sure he apologised to Colapinto. He congratulated the Argentinian on scoring a point at the 2026 F1 Chinese GP. It was his first point for Alpine.
“Yes, I apologised. I told him that I was glad that he scored a point because he deserves it today.”
The Frenchman claims that his move against Colapinto was a not desperate one. The collision could have been avoided if he would have backed out sooner as he saw the gap closing. But did he try to avoid it when he realised it?
“I mean, yes and no,” says the Haas F1 team driver.
Great start at 2026 Chinese GP on hard tyres
Ocon started the Chinese GP on hard tyres which paid off well. At least until up the safety car and then the collision. Not being able to finish in the points and still having not scored any compared to his team mate Ollie Bearman, who had a better weekend than him, clearly frustrates Ocon.
“Yes, we were having a good start. We were well-positioned until mid-race all the time, but we didn’t finish there. It pisses me off.”
