Ocon to miss Miami F1 qualifying due to cracked chassis

Ocon lost control of his Alpine A522 car through Turn 13 midway through FP3, causing him to crash into the wall on the right-hand side of the track.

The severity of the impact left Ocon’s car with significant damage, and warranted a visit for the Frenchman to the medical centre where staff duly checked and cleared him.

It left Alpine in a race against time to get Ocon’s car repaired in time for qualifying, but the team has now confirmed it found a crack in the chassis, meaning he will take no part in the session.

“We can confirm that sadly Esteban won’t be taking part in qualifying this afternoon,” Alpine said in a short statement.

“His chassis was cracked in the impact with the barrier and cannot be changed in time. Esteban is physically fine and will race tomorrow.”

Ocon will race tomorrow with the spare Alpine chassis, which will need to complete the scrutineering declaration again.

The news comes as a setback for Alpine which had been hoping to recover from its first race weekend without points of the year at Imola two weeks ago.

Ocon finished 15th in FP1 before rising to ninth in FP2 at the Miami International Autodrome on Friday. Teammate Fernando Alonso was able to place fourth in final practice, giving the team hope of returning to the points.

Ocon is not the only driver to have been caught out at that part of the circuit, which sweeps out of a stadium section before going uphill to a tight chicane.

Carlos Sainz crashed in FP2 on Friday at the chicane, while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen spun and narrowly managed to keep his RB18 car out of the wall at the very end of FP3 on Saturday afternoon.

Valtteri Bottas also lost running on Friday due to a crash at Turn 7 in FP1, meaning he could take no part in second practice later in the day.