F1 star Pierre Gasly begins British Grand Prix with savage 50-place grid penalty
Pierre Gasly is set to kick off the British Grand Prix from the very end of the pack, having racked up a whopping 50-place grid penalty for using more than his fair share of power unit components this season.
The Alpine ace has been on a roll, bagging points in the last four F1 races, but his hot streak’s under threat at Silverstone thanks to these hefty sanctions.
The French speedster has gone over his limit for the internal combustion engine, turbo charger, MGU-H, MGU-K and control electronics, copping a 10-place drop for each infringement at the iconic circuit.
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To add to his woes, Gasly’s final practice session was a bit of a nightmare. He spun out into the gravel in sector three, cutting his time on track short after just eight minutes.
Reflecting on his shaky start at Silverstone, Gasly said: “Jack [Doohan] ran the car in FP1 today and once again did a great job working with the team and getting useful data, although he did not get as much running in as expected due to a red flag. I will have to take a grid penalty on Sunday for a change of Power Unit and battery.”, reports the Express.
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“For FP2, I was mainly then trying to get a first feeling of the car at this track. And I have to say I am not satisfied so far with how the car felt, although of course we only got minimal running in. As I will start from last position on Sunday, the focus for the rest of the weekend will be to get the car set-up and balance in the right window for the race so we can attack.”
“There is lots of work for us to do overnight and the rest of the weekend, but I hope for Sunday we can be in a position again to move up the field and possibly fight for some points.”
Even with the misfortunate of his hefty grid penalty, relinquishing his weekend at Silverstone will put him in a favourable spot moving into the final two race weekends prior to the summer break.
Alpine appear to be consistently improving, and with Gasly’s future secured since announcing his multi-year contract extension, the 28 year old driver can progress forward with the Enstone-based team.
