24 July 2023 , 15:20
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Esteban Ocon smashed into the ground so hard during his Hungarian Grand Prix crash that the seat of his Alpine car snapped completely in two.
The Frenchman was one of two unfortunate victims of a crash at the first corner caused by Zhou Guanyu. In a double blow for the team, the other was his team-mate Pierre Gasly.
Zhou started fifth on the grid after an exceptional qualifying effort but got a terrible launch off the line. Perhaps trying too hard to make up for the error, he braked late into the first corner and nudged the back of Daniel Ricciardo.
That sent the AlphaTauri into the back of Ocon, who then made contact with his Alpine team-mate. Their wheels collided in a way which sent Ocon's car up into the air and landing heavily back down on the floor.
Gasly was out immediately and, though his team-mate tried to soldier on, the damage to his car was too extensive. And Ocon was also feeling the effects himself, taken to the Hungaroring medical centre to be checked over before being given the all clear.
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"I'm disappointed to be doing so few laps," he told French TV. "It's the consequence of starting so far back, everyone's trying to get into the points. It's a bit sad to see what happened. I've seen the footage again and it's just sickening."
And he later explained the damage done by the force of the impact, telling reporters: "We suffered a strike into Turn 1. A mistake from Zhou at the back and that led us to a massive hit. I took off to three or four metres on the rear wheels. When I landed, it was a big hit – my seat broke into two pieces, so that tells how much the impact was.
Esteban Ocon was checked over after the crash but avoided any lasting damage (HOCH ZWEI/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)"Unfortunately, both cars were out after that. Those are the consequences from racing in the back - people tend to take more risks. We knew it and we suffered from it. We will be racing again next week, so we can quickly forget the weekend."
And he made it clear that he will be behind the wheel of his Alpine at the Belgian Grand Prix this coming weekend, despite feeling the effects of the crash. Ocon added: "I am lucky enough to be with a team of very professional people, I should be well taken care of."
His team-mate Gasly said of the unavoidable crash: "We got off to a very good start, but I didn't have much room so I had to go through the grass a bit. I was in a good position at the first corner. Things aren't working out for us. We need to put a stop to this series of events that's happening to us at the moment. We're not performing well enough."