Ocon feared ‘crazy” pit lane near-miss could have been “a big disaster”

After running the entire race on the same set of hard tyres, the Alpine driver dived into the pitlane on the final lap to serve his mandatory pit stop. 

But as Ocon entered the pitlane he had to take avoiding action to narrowly miss a group of F1 personnel and photographers. 

"That is not something that we want to see," Ocon said.

"I don't understand why we are starting to prepare the podium and the ceremony when we are still racing, there is one lap to go and there are still people who didn't pit.

"Arriving at 300 km/h, braking very late and I see the barriers and the people all around. This is crazy, it could have been a big, big one today.

"It's definitely something that needs to be discussed as it is something we don't want to see.” 

Onboard footage from Ocon’s car showed just how close he was to hitting someone. 

“It was quite close, I had to lift off, I had to back off, so I would not have liked to have been the ones in the middle there,” Ocon explained. 

"If I miss the braking point, it is a big disaster, so that is a crazy moment.”

The FIA is investigating the shocking incident. 

"Representatives of the FIA responsible for the parc ferme area at pit entry are required to report to race stewards (at 14.30 BST) due to "personnel blocking the fast lane in the pit lane on the final lap of the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix while the pit lane remained open,” an FIA statement read.