Ocon Keeps Canada Sprint Result After FIA Review

Esteban Ocon kept 13th place in the Canadian Grand Prix sprint after stewards investigated Haas over a suspected tyre-pressure infringement on the grid and decided no penalty was warranted.

The case centered on car No. 31 before the start at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. FIA technical delegate Jo Bauer referred the matter to the stewards after reporting that Ocon’s tyre pressures were checked at 11:51 and that all wheels were fitted to the car at 11:52 in compliance with the FIA tyre operating procedure. Bauer then reported that at 11:56, air was allegedly released from the left-rear tyre while the wheel was still fitted to the car.

That would have been a significant issue under the tyre operating rules, because once the checks had been completed and the car was in the prescribed state on the grid, Haas was not supposed to alter the pressure in that way. With Ocon having finished 13th in the sprint, the referral put his result under immediate scrutiny and raised the prospect of a post-race penalty if the allegation was upheld.

The investigation, however, turned on what the video evidence actually showed. According to the stewards’ findings summarized after the hearing, the FIA had carried out its tyre-pressure check nine minutes before the start, and Haas fitted the Pirelli tyres afterward in line with procedure. The key question was whether air had then been released from the left-rear four minutes before the start, as initially observed.

Video footage did not support that. The review found no contact with the tyre at the moment when the pressure was said to have been adjusted, which undermined the basis for the suspected breach. Without evidence that the tyre pressure had been altered in the manner described, the stewards had no grounds to impose a sanction.

That left both Ocon and Haas clear of punishment. The observation from an FIA employee was enough to trigger the referral and a formal look at the car’s compliance on the grid, but once the footage was examined, the allegation could not be sustained.

For Haas, that meant avoiding the loss of a sprint result on a technicality. For Ocon, it meant his 13th-place finish stood as classified, with the stewards concluding that the evidence did not prove an illegal tyre-pressure adjustment had taken place.