As the drivers headed into lap 55, the Alpine duo of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon were set to pick up key points for their team in the Constructors’ Championship.
When the Haas of Kevin Magnussen hit the wall and brought out the red flag, all the drivers returned to the pitlane, with Gasly in P5 and Ocon in P10.
As the remaining drivers changed to soft tyres for a sprint to the finish, with only three laps remaining, the French pairing were looking to keep their competitors at bay before disaster struck
With the lights going out for the second red flag restart of the Grand Prix, the whole grid scrambled to the first turn, taking risks to secure points in the last laps of the race.
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However, the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz collided with the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso, pushing Gasly off the track and out of P5.
When the Frenchman rejoined the track, the situation went completely downhill, as he made contact with his teammate, wiping both cars out of the race completely.
In a post-race interview, a clearly distraught Gasly told reporters that he was “extremely disappointed,” seeming lost for words at points.
“I don’t have anything to say. I’m just extremely disappointed.
“I just want to remember the positive. We didn’t expect to be fighting one Ferrari and to have Alonso on my side for most of the race.
“That’s what we remember. The rest, I just don’t have no comment for now,” he said dejectedly.
Addressing the situation, Ocon revealed that Gasly had apologised for the incident, claiming there are no hard feelings between the pair.
“We were always on the wrong side of things but not by our fault really,” Ocon said.
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“The pace was good. We were as fast as the Astons and the Ferrari in front. It’s difficult to digest.
“Pierre came back on the track and left me no room and we collided but no hard feelings.
“It could have been anyone and he came and apologised… It never seemed to tip our way this weekend,” he added.