Pierre Gasly given grid penalty for impeding at British Grand Prix

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly has been given a three-place grid penalty for impeding Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in qualifying for the British Grand Prix.

Feature image credit: Pirelli

Gasly had qualified 12th overall at the British Grand Prix, but the Frenchman will now start three positions further back after the stewards deemed the Alpine driver had impeded Stroll’s Aston in Q1.

The incident occurred at turn 15 on the Silverstone circuit, more commonly known as Stowe, where the Canadian Aston Martin driver was on a timed lap whilst Gasly was on his way into the pits.

According to the report, Gasly had suffered a technical issue with the Formula One Management equipment, meaning he had no radio warning of Stroll approaching behind.

The stewards had accepted this ‘unfortunate’ circumstance in Gasly’s defence. However, they stated that the absence of a radio warning doesn’t remove the liability of the driver for impeding another.

Kimi Antonelli takes pole position for the British Grand Prix

As such, the stewards had deemed Gasly to have impeded Stroll, issuing him with a three-place grid penalty. In the stewards’ report, they said:

“STR [Stroll] was on a timed lap in Q1. GAS was on an in lap and, on the approach to Turn 15, remained on the racing line at a slow speed, requiring STR to move off line in order to pass.

GAS [Gasly] explained that he had no functioning radio at the time, that he had been attempting radio checks and that he expected another driver (ANT [Kimi Antonelli]), to remain behind him rather than overtake, as he understood ANT not to be on a timed lap.

“The team representative pointed out that there was no radio warning to GAS because of a technical issue with FOM equipment, which was confirmed by FOM.

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“The Stewards accepted that these were unfortunate circumstances and took into account that the driver was left without the usual radio warning from the team.

“The team representative of STR also confirmed that, in his view, the circumstances were unfortunate. However, the absence of a radio warning does not remove the driver’s responsibility to avoid impeding another car.

“GAS remained at a slow speed on the racing line and the evidence showed that the driver had information available to him, including the dashboard display, to appreciate STR was approaching on a timed lap.

“In those circumstances, the Stewards determined that GAS unnecessarily impeded STR and therefore impose the standard penalty of a 3 grid position drop.”

The penalty for Gasly will now mean the Frenchman will start the upcoming British Grand Prix in 15th, rather than 12th. On the other hand, the penalty does nothing for Stroll, who will continue to start the race 21st on the grid.

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Formula 1’s British Grand Prix will get underway at 3pm local time.

Read more Formula 1 here:

• Russell final qualifying run ‘compromised’ ahead of British Grand Prix
• Kimi Antonelli takes pole position for the British Grand Prix
• FIA share reasoning on Perez penalty at British Grand Prix sprint
• Antonelli snatches British Grand Prix sprint win from Hamilton
• ‘Night and Day’ says Kimi Antonelli after British GP sprint qualifying
• Lewis Hamilton credits ‘extra hundredth’ to fans after taking Sprint Pole at British GP
• Lando Norris claims damage stopped true pace at British Grand Prix sprint qualifying

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Kamron Kent

Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.

I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.