Driver summoned to FIA stewards even before FP1 at Spa
The FIA has issued a document clamping down on some tams designs.
Esteban Ocon will begin his Belgian Grand Prix weekend in front of the stewards after being summoned for arriving late to Thursday’s FIA driver press conference.
Ocon was scheduled to join Max Verstappen and Alex Albon on the couch, but when the session began there was no sign of the Haas driver.
Haas driver summoned after late FIA press conference
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The driver has officially been summoned to the stewards.
“The driver and team representative are required to report to the Stewards at 12:00 Friday July 17 2026, in relation to the incident below,” read the note.
“Alleged breach of Article B10.1.1.a of the FIA F1 Regulations – Late attendance of the Thursday Press Conference.”
It’s a summons that Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris both faces in Monaco where they picked up fines of €5000 each, suspended for 12 months pending no further offences of this nature.
Ocon eventually joined the press conference, answering questions after Verstappen and Albon.
After a spate of Grands Prix outside of the points, he revealed the team is hoping to bounce back at Spa.
“It’s been a tough couple of races as a team,” he said.
“Of course, we are chasing a bit of performance at the moment. We do have a little bit of new stuff coming this weekend as well. We need to find more performance.
“I think we extracted the maximum out of the car in Silverstone, which was quite positive, but of course it was not quite enough. After the start from even quite far back in the order, I went up to P11 and we could not hold the pace of the other midfield cars.
“This is what we need to work on. We know that, and we’re all focused on doing that, hopefully here or later when more parts come on the car.”
Ocon has scored three of Haas’ 21 points leading to rumours that his seat could be on the line.
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He brushed that off earlier last month, adamant it was too early to even think about F1 2027.
“I need to focus on the job,” he said. “As a driver, the performance on track is what I need to be taking care of.
“The rest is something that goes with it.
“Obviously, we have bigger problems with the car at the moment than that. So this is what we need to sort out first. If you sort out the car issues and get more performance out of it, everything will go easier, obviously.
“But you know, I feel confident about everything.
“There will always be talks when people look at the picture, [but] when you look deep inside, and knowing why I don’t have many points this year, and all of these things, well it gets more clear.
“The real reasons we know deep inside, the team and the people close around, so that’s the most important.
“We know that we are doing the right work. Now, it just needs to pay off.”
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