Alpine driver Esteban Ocon says “The FIA has apologised and Formula 1” after his near-miss as personnel gathered in the pit lane in Azerbaijan.
The Frenchman pitted on the penultimate lap in Baku as officials were preparing the parc ferme barriers ahead of the podium ceremony in a poorly organised scenario.
Ocon said: “They assured us that this is not going to happen anymore. Thank God nothing happened and so all good from now.
“We are racing at the time. It’s of course normal that there shouldn’t be anyone in the pit lane until after we are racing like that.
“These things are normally not going to happen, the FIA has assured us that they are making sure they are changing the protocol and making sure there is no one in the pit lane until the end, so I’m confident we will not see that anymore.”
The FIA undertook a post-race investigation required to take “immediate steps” to prevent the incident from repeating itself.
The FiA’s updated protocols weren’t mentioned in the race director’s notes ahead of this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix and are yet to be revealed.
As the incident in Baku was unfolding, Sky Sports F1 pit-lane reporter Ted Kravitz said: “There are people all over the pit lane.
“What is this about? This is a shambles, this is an absolute shambles.
“We could see it coming, Alpine could see it coming, what is going on down there?”
