Ocon 'deserved penalty' as Haas driver apologises to Colapinto for China clash

Esteban Ocon admits he "deserved the penalty" for his clash with Franco Colapinto during the Chinese Grand Prix and apologised to the Alpine driver post-race.

Both Colapinto and Ocon found themselves towards the front early in Sunday's race at the Shanghai International Circuit, having started on the hard tyre and deciding to stay out as most of the field headed to the pit lane under a Safety Car.

The pair continued their on-track battle to the midway point of the race, Colapinto rejoining from the pits after his stop just in front of Ocon, who had pitted three laps earlier.

But as Colapinto took a wide line through the long right of Turns 1-2, Ocon made an attempt up the inside into an ever-closing gap with the Haas driver hitting the Alpine's right-rear tyre as both cars spun.

Able to rejoin, Colapinto finished the race in P10 with Ocon down in P14, the Frenchman having been handed a 10-second penalty for the incident, which he claimed full responsibility for.

"It's my fault, I did a mistake, I misjudged it." said Ocon, who also posted his apology on social media having spoken with Colapinto in the media pen after the race. "I'm glad that Franco still got a point because he drove a very good race.

"We did good fights all the way until then. It's a shame it ended like this but he's still in the top 10, so that's very good. I deserved the penalty today, it's very clear.

"But we were on for a very good race, but this is the second time in a row, two races that we pick up the Safety Car at the wrong point.

"We started on the reverse strategy and I knew that was going to happen. It was looking good until then for very good points, so disappointed."

Haas team mate Ollie Bearman did finish in the points, the Briton proving to be best of the rest in P5, adding to his points finishes in Australia and China Sprint.