Before Unleashing Hell at Esteban Ocon, Fernando Alonso’s Team Aston Martin Employed a Shrewd Masterplan to Play Safe

You might have come across those ‘1000 IQ sports moments’ videos on YouTube. Usually, those videos have clippings of smart decisions taken by athletes on the field. Well, if there was a video with a ‘1000 IQ off-field sports moment’, F1’s Aston Martin would steal the show. At the Austrian GP, the FIA slapped drivers left and right with time penalties. And to make things worse, Aston Martin’s post-race appeal got accepted and 8 drivers got more time penalties. And the driver worst affected was Esteban Ocon, Fernando Alonso‘s ex-teammate at Alpine.

It didn’t seem like a freak occurrence when Aston Martin made an appeal after the race. Because they felt that some mistakes by their rivals had gone unnoticed. But according to the latest reports, this move, initiated by AMR’s Sporting Director Andy Stevenson was super calculative. Stevenson did not go through all the footage. All he did was keep “a tally of the offenses listed on page 3 of the FIA information page.” And that was more than enough to promote their drivers by a position each.

According to Auto Motor und Sport, Stevenson said, “We knew pretty well that our drivers had not committed more crimes than what was stated on the screen.” Team Principal Mike Krack too was involved in this 1000 IQ move. He said, “We looked at all the camera shots to be on the safe side.” [translated via Google] But facing the brunt of this move was Ocon who got a 30-second penalty after the race.

Read More: Fernando Alonso Left in Awe of Lawrence Stroll’s $254,000,000 Masterstroke Ahead of Aston Martin’s Home Race

And with that appeal, Aston Martin gave a unique gift to Ocon in the form of an undesirable world record.

Esteban Ocon Breaks His Own Unwanted World Record

The record for most penalties in a race was held by Pastor Maldonaldo. He received 3 penalties at the 2015 Hungarian GP for various offenses. In Bahrain this year, Esteban Ocon got 3 penalties and equaled his record. But such was Ocon’s subconscious passion for breaking this record, that he has gone over and above at the Austrian GP, getting 5 penalties in one race.

At the Austrian GP, the Stewards were having a picnic in the race control room. They were handing 5-second time penalties to a lot of drivers. The FIA upheld Aston Martin’s post-race appeal and gave more time penalties to 8 drivers. And Ocon seemed to be their favorite, getting a 30-second time penalty. Thus, breaking his own undesirable record.

Though Ocon was already out of points before receiving this massive penalty, Aston Martin’s cunningness has to be lauded. Being alert during the race earned them 3 extra valuable points in the Constructors’ Championship.

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