Ocon approached Turn 9 on a flying lap when he was briefly impeded by the McLaren driver, who was on an outlap.
The incident forced the Alpine driver to abort his lap, although it did not affect his qualifying result of P5.
Following the session, the FIA stewards handed Ricciardo a three-place grid penalty for impeding his colleague, demoting him to P15 for Sunday’s race. The Australian was also given a penalty point on his licence.
Ricciardo said he was unaware of Ocon’s presence “as he was not told of that by his team” and that by the time he saw the approaching Alpine, “it was too late”.
The Woking-based outfit admitted its mistake and received a €10,000 fine for not informing its driver.
Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
In their report the FIA stewards said: “The driver admitted that he did not know that Car 31 was coming on a fast lap as he was not told of that by his team.
“By the time he saw Car 31 approaching, it was too late. The team…
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