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Esteban Ocon gets grid penalty for red-flag infringement in FP3

Force India's Esteban Ocon has been given a three-place grid penalty for the Japanese Grand Prix after failing to slow sufficiently for red flags in final practice.

Ocon was caught out after Nico Hulkenberg crashed out of FP3 on Saturday and was found to have gone too fast despite significantly reducing his speed. This year Formula One implemented a 'delta time' drivers must follow during red-flag periods, a theoretical lap time that drivers can monitor within the cockpit.

F1 data showed Ocon, who went on to qualify eighth later in the day, had been in breach of that time for three 'mini-sectors' of the circuit, which the Frenchman put down to a confusion over the beeps he was hearing in his ear -- those noises are usually a signal to a driver that they need to increase their pace.