Esteban Ocon has urged the FIA to take action against Max Verstappen following an altercation between the pair in the pits at Interlagos.

Verstappen was seen repeatedly pushing Ocon. The pair collided during the race while Verstappen was a lap ahead of Ocon, knocking Verstappen into a spin which cost him the lead of the race.

“What I’m really surprised [about] is the behaviour of Max,” said Ocon. “Coming into the scales [area], the FIA need to stop him from being violent, pushing me, wanting to push me, that is not professional.”

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner defended his driver. “I think Max has been pretty restrained to be honest with you,” he told Sky. “It’s cost him a grand prix victory. He’s driven his heart out with a damaged car.

“Esteban was lucky to get away with a push to be honest with you. The emotions are running high. I told him to get yourself under control on the cool-down lap because he lost a victory through no fault of his own today.”

Ocon said his attempt to overtake Verstappen was justified even though he was not on the same lap.

“I was two laps behind Max,” he said. “The first lap I was a lot faster, the second lap I was a lot faster. I had fresh tyres basically.

“The rules say you can un-lap yourself if you are faster and that’s what I did on the second lap because I still saw I had massive pace. I went around the outside of him, the same move I did on Alonso, the same move I did on many other drivers coming from last in the first lap. But it didn’t happen the same way in the corner after that.”

Ocon was penalised for the on-track collision with Verstappen. The pair have now been summoned to the stewards over the post-race incident.

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2018 F1 season