Why two Imola GP car stoppages were handled differently

Esteban Ocon and Kimi Antonelli both stopped in roughly the same place in Formula 1’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix - so why was one a virtual safety car and the other a full safety car?

Ocon was told to bring his Haas to a halt on the exit of Acque Minerali 29 laps into the 63-lap contest, with the Frenchman pulling up onto the grass on the left-hand side.

That prompted race control to deploy a virtual safety car during a crucial phase of the race, with half the field still yet to pit.

Ocon’s Haas was removed via the nearest gap in the barrier, which was behind where he parked, downhill, which helped the marshals make a fairly brisk recovery.

Then on lap 46, Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes ground to a halt with a suspected throttle control issue in a very similar place.

His slowing Mercedes actually passed the Ocon-occupied marshal post, and he parked just further up from where Ocon stopped.

As the marshal post behind him was already taken, it meant the marshals had to push his car uphill towards the next vacant marshal gap.

While the marshals were simply able to push Ocon’s stricken Haas downhill to safety, a recovery vehicle was needed to move Antonelli’s Mercedes, given it was uphill and a further distance to the next available post than where Ocon’s car had been pushed to.

It wasn’t anticipated that this space would be needed either, and so there was a delay as it was cleared of signage.

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Antonelli’s car wasn’t touched for almost five minutes after he climbed out, as the recovery marshal post was readied and the recovery vehicle made its way over.

In contrast, when Ocon jumped out of his Haas, the marshals were already there, ready to push his car down the hill to safety under the VSC.

The Race understands the presence of the recovery vehicle and the trickier extraction of his car warranted a full safety car, versus the brief Ocon recovery that could be covered under a VSC.