Alpine star Esteban Ocon thinks rival F1 team were ‘very tough’ on 31-y/o driver

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Alpine star Esteban Ocon believes Haas were ‘very tough’ on Kevin Magnussen after asking the Dane to sacrifice his Saudi Arabian GP to improve Nico Hulkenberg’s race.

Haas employed team orders in a desperate bid to help Hulkenberg score a point in Jeddah as Magnussen drew 20 seconds’ worth of time penalties. The 31-year-old drew the angst of the race stewards by causing a collision before leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

Magnussen earned his first time penalty for squeezing Alex Albon into the wall whilst trying to defend from the Williams driver. He then received another penalty after refusing to give a position back to Yuki Tsunoda after leaving the track to overtake the Visa Cash App RB ace.

Haas and Kevin Magnussen helped Nico Hulkenberg get P10 at the Saudi Arabian GP

The FIA has increased the time penalty from five to 10 seconds in 2024 for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. But Haas used Magnussen’s time penalties to their advantage by asking him to slow down so that Hulkenberg could build a buffer before making his pit stop.

Hulkenberg was not among the 14 drivers to make their mandatory pit stop on Lap 7 in the safety car period. So, the 36-year-old faced falling down the order when he eventually came in on Lap 33. But the German re-emerged two seconds in front of Magnussen, plus his train.

Ocon had a front-row seat for Magnussen’s train, which Tsunoda called ‘dangerous’ on RB’s radio during the Saudi Arabian GP. Albon also described the Dane’s tactics as ‘naughty’ over Williams’ radio. But Magnussen’s train helped Hulkenberg finish in P10 and get Haas a point.

Alpine driver Esteban Ocon wants the FIA to rule on Kevin Magnussen’s driving antics

Hulkenberg ultimately finished 11.358 seconds ahead of Albon, who also suffered front-wing damage when Magnussen put the 27-year-old in the wall. But Ocon feels the FIA must now decide if Magnussen’s antics in Jeddah were over the line or within the rules going forward.

“I think his team have been very tough with him on that one,” Ocon explained, via quotes by Motorsport Week. He added: “[The] FIA has to decide if it’s too much or not. It’s not on my side. But being behind, with how much traffic it created, it created some tricky situations.”

Nico Hulkenberg ‘wasn’t aware’ of Kevin Magnussen’s intentionally slow driving

While Haas asked Magnussen to lower his pace to let Hulkenberg build a gap before his only pit stop, the team did not inform Hulkenberg. The German only found out about their tactics after the chequered flag. But he has pledged to repay the favour to Magnussen when viable.

“Great team effort [and a] great team game by Kevin,” Hulkenberg said, via Autosport, after the race in Jeddah. “I was told that he really helped my case by holding up the pack behind him, which obviously helped open up the window for me to take the point.

“A very good job from him on that side and thank you – I’ll return the favour later in the season… I was told that the gap opened up but I wasn’t aware why. I just thought: ‘I am so good that I fly away from the pack!’”