Esteban Ocon’s five-place penalty at the Monaco Grand Prix, explained

The opening lap of the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix was filled with drama.

And now one of the drivers involved in some of that drama will be starting a little further back the next time he takes to the grid.

Shortly after the start three drivers — Sergio Pérez, Kevin Magnussen, and Nico Hülkenberg — came together in a big crash that knocked all three drivers out of the race and brought out a red flag. But a little further up the grid another two-car accident was taking place, between teammates Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon.

As you can see from this camera angle, Ocon was perhaps a little too greedy as he tried to get around his teammate, and as the two cars came together, the impact launched Ocon’s A524 into the air for a moment, before it came crashing down on the Monte Carlo streets:

Gasly was immediately frustrated by the move, lamenting over the radio “[w]hat did he do? What did he do? Why did he try to attack me?”

Race officials immediately noted the collision for further investigation, and shortly after receiving a report from the race director, issued a penalty to Ocon finding him “wholly” responsible for the collision:

“The Stewards reviewed video and in-car video evidence and determined that Car 31 attempted to overtake Car 10 at Turn 8. The attempt resulted in the cars coming together, Car 31 being flung into the air and damaging the car.

“As the race was red flagged shortly thereafter, the cars returned to the pits and Car 31 retired. It was clear to us that the collision was caused solely by the overly ambitious overtaking attempt, from too far back, by Car 31 and was therefore wholly to blame for the incident.

“The baseline penalty for causing a collision in this season is a 10 second time penalty. This is what we imposed on Car 31. However, given that Car 31 did not finish the race, it will be converted to a drop of 5 grid positions for the next race in which the driver participates.”

As noted by the race officials, with Ocon having retired from the race, the ten-second penalty he was given for causing the collision was converted to a five-place grid drop, meaning that the next time Ocon takes to the track — likely the Canadian Grand Prix in two weeks’ time — he will be hit with the five place grid drop. Race officials also added two penalty points to Ocon’s Super License, bringing his current tally to three.

What does that penalty mean in relative terms? If Ocon were to somehow qualify on pole position, he would start sixth in the race.

Talk about starting a race week on the back foot.