F1's "unluckiest" driver questions yellow flag rule despite escaping punishment

Esteban Ocon has questioned the rule that allows drivers to keep their laps when passing through yellow flags with a quick lift in Formula 1 qualifying - despite escaping punishment himself. 

The issue has been a talking point since George Russell was able to keep his pole lap in Austria after satisfying the FIA stewards with a brief lift, and a similar case occurred with Ocon on Saturday, albeit with less attention focussed on it.

The Haas driver lifted when he came across a spinning Franco Colapinto late in Q1, and a single yellow was displayed. 

In backing off he compromised his lap enough to miss progressing to Q2 in P17, and he noted on team radio that he was “the unluckiest guy”. 

However he did improve his lap time, and that triggered an investigation.

The stewards duly decided to take no further action, noting that “the telemetry confirmed that the driver lifted earlier, applied greater brake pressure than on his comparable fast lap, and demonstrated a discernible reduction in speed through the relevant yellow flag marshalling sector compared with that representative lap under similar conditions.”

Nevertheless he remained frustrated at the loss of the opportunity to progress further in qualifying.

“It’s been like that all year, I don't have any words anymore,” he said when asked by Crash.net about his “unluckiest” comment. “If there's one guy that takes the yellow flag, it has to be me. He was there for what, 10 seconds? And then he got going again, and obviously I passed through. 

“It was single yellow. The engineers, Laura [Muller], and the strategists, they were on it because they told me single yellow. So I was aware, and I could see the smoke, I was aware it was a single yellow, so I managed to prepare.”

Regarding the rule that allowed him to keep his time he said: “I lost only two-tenths through the corner, which I don't know if this is the correct thing to do, not slowing down too much under a yellow flag. But anyway, that’s what we have to do for performance. That’s how the rule is written.

“So I lost only two-tenths. But the problem is because I go back on throttle early on the exit, I also lose down the straight, with SOC [state of charge]. So I lost a bit more, two tenths and a half, and it would have been enough to go through. It was a shame because the car was mega.”

Ocon stressed that he had done enough to acknowledge the yellow flag: “It was the same as George, I lost the same amount of time. I feel correct in my shoes – I don’t know if how that is how you say it!

“For me you have to clearly show a sign of time loss and a sign on the pedals that you are slowing down, and that you acknowledge what the issue is ahead. So I’ve acknowledged, I've lifted probably 50 or 70 metres more.”

Meanwhile Ocon was much happier with the overall performance of his VF-26 after recent struggles.

“The car was back healthier than it was in the last three events, which is very positive. We don't have the same degradation that we had in the last three events, we managed to complete the sprint race with decent pace. 

“Now we’ve got some decent pace [in qualifying] as well, I was ahead of where we should have been, 12 or 13, I was ahead of all the pack that we should have been ahead on the second set, so we were on for decent Q2. 

“I think hopefully a bit closer to Q3 once we get two more sets of tyres after that. I was pretty happy with the job we’ve done. It feels like a missed opportunity. 

“For the first time in a while we have a competitive and let’s say healthy car, and unfortunately it ends up like that, so I’m gutted for everyone.”