WATCH: Esteban Ocon Gets Stuck in ‘Neutral’ Right in the Middle of the F1 Track at Abu Dhabi

The F1 drivers ventured out of their garages for one last weekend in the 2021 season at Yas Marina Circuit today for the first practice session. Max Verstappen recorded the fastest lap time of 1:25:009 minutes. However, it wasn’t a smooth session for all the drivers. Valtteri Bottas got his lap time deleted for exceeding the track limit. Meanwhile, Esteban Ocon was also muddling through some technical issues after he went “neutral” on the track.

The two championship rivals were hustling through the 16-turn circuit where Hamilton ended up three-tenths slower than Verstappen. Bottas came in 2nd and Perez followed Hamilton to bag the 4th spot. Alpine had a good FP1 with Fernando finishing 6th fastest while Ocon had some gear issues and ended up in 11th place.

Esteban Ocon suffered an issue in FP1

The Alpine driver complained about a gear issue during the session. However, the technical team guided him through and he caught back his pace. Ocon could be heard on the radio saying, “I have a problem, I have gone to neutral. What should I do?”

The trackside performance engineer suggested to him to try up-shifting first before stopping his false neutral. However, that didn’t work for the Alpine driver, so he later suggested Ocon downshift instead.

The Frenchman also went close to the barriers during the session but saved any wreckage. Ocon currently stands 11th in the drivers’ standings with 72 points, right behind his teammate and two-time world champion Fernando Alonso. 

2021 has been a mega season for Ocon

Esteban Ocon recorded his maiden F1 win at the Hungarian GP 2021. The race was disarrayed by multiple crashes and Ocon rose up to the occasion and managed to finish at the top. He had many strong points finishes this year as well. He missed out on a podium in Jeddah by nearly half a tenth of a second to Valtteri Bottas. Ocon reflects back on this season as a good one.

“We are pushing as much as we can and today we got a very strong team result, so pretty pleased with that and very happy for everybody,” said Ocon as reported by Autosport. “I think it was a very solid weekend on our side. Once we have the same pace as the top cars we are going to be very dangerous,” he added.

The Abu Dhabi weekend has kicked off in style and fans are eagerly waiting for the qualifying session on Saturday. Who do you think will be the polesitter in the Yas Marina Circuit this season?

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