Pierre Gasly will try to understand with the FIA stewards what he is doing wrong as he nears a F1 ban due to superlicense penalty points.
Another moment in F1 Mexico GP led to 10 penalty points for AlphaTauri’s Gasly where he is just two points away from being banned for a grand prix. He will have be very careful in Brazil and Abu Dhabi along with the first four rounds of 2023 season.
He got saved from being banned in Brazil after a couple of points were struck off during the Mexico weekend and the next striking off will only happen around April 24 in 2023. But this situation has irked Gasly who is to switch to Alpine next year with this danger hovering.
After the red flag speeding in Japan, Gasly got more penalty points for the incident with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in Mexico. The Frenchman argued that neither the FIA, nor the team asked him to give back the place and so he didn’t.
“I’m a racing driver, if I see a gap, I will go for the gap,” said Gasly to media. “If you are not happy about it, tell me to give the position back. I will try again. I wasn’t given any comments so that is a shame. They just need to say on the radio and that is what they have done in the past. For some reason not this time.”
When pressed further, Gasly reiterated that the FIA or his team only needed to ask him to give back but they didn’t which is why he will speak with the stewards to understand what he is doing wrong. “I don’t think the FIA told them to give the position back,” he said. “Otherwise they would have said it. I’m a racing driver.
“If I see a gap, I will always go for it. If it is tight and they are not happy, FIA just need to press one button and say to the team. They [the stewards] seem to be quite harsh lately. Last weekend half the grid was giving too much space to the safety car and I was penalised. In Mexico, it was quite tight.
“I don’t know why I wasn’t given a message to give the position back. At the end of the day, I try my best side the car and the last thing I want is to lose stupid penalty points and lose race time. Apparently at the moment they are not happy with what I’m doing so I have to have a discussion to understand exactly what I have got to change,” summed up Gasly, who agreed that it is not ideal that penalty points go until May for him.
Here’s Pierre Gasly, Lando Norris on Mexico GP paddock situation