Pierre Gasly (FRA) Alpine F1 Team.

F1: Pierre Gasly likely to be banned from Azerbijan GP (No!) (Update)

Pierre Gasly has escaped punishment from the FIA for his late crash in the Australian Grand Prix to spare the Alpine driver from a possible Formula 1 race ban.

No action was taken on the incident, hence Gasly lucked out.

Gasly drifted over the circuit to pinch his teammate against the wall.

Both Alpines were eliminated as a result of the contact, with the duo drivers  summoned to the stewards for allegedly breaching an article of the FIA International Sporting Code pertaining to driving standards.

The code of conduct reads: “Causing a collision, repetition of serious mistakes or the appearance of a lack of control over the car (such as leaving the track) will be reported to the stewards and may entail the imposition of penalties up to and including the disqualification of any driver concerned.”

The FIA reasoning states: “The stewards heard from the driver of Car 10 (Pierre Gasly), the driver of Car 31 (Esteban Ocon), a team representative and reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video and in-car video evidence and determined that it was a first-lap racing incident.

“Both cars recognized and accepted this as such. In the circumstances, we took no further action.”

No action was taken by the Stewards because Ocon did not want to force the issue of blame where it belonged – on his Alpine teammate Gasly – therefore, Gasly will not get banned as he should have been.


April 2, 2023 

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Pierre Gasly is set to be banned from the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, after he crashed into Alpine team-mate Esteban Ocon in the latter part of today’s Australian Grand Prix.

Gasly turned across the track without checking his mirrors, and consequently made contact with his team-mate, forcing them both to immediately retire.

Pierre Gasly (FRA) Alpine F1 Team A523. Australian Grand Prix, Sunday 2nd April 2023. Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia.

The former Red Bull driver is likely to be adjudged to have been responsible for the collision, and he will be awarded additional penalty points.

Coming into the 2023 Australian Grand Prix, Gasly was sitting on 10 penalty points.

This will bring his 12-month running total to above 12 points, leading to an automatic one-race ban.

Two of these penalty points will expire on 22 May – one year after picked them up for causing a collision with Lance Stroll at the 2022 Spanish Grand Prix.

Alpine recently tried to wipe clean some of Gasly’s penalty points, but this move was blocked by some of their rivals.

Driver Penalty Points as They Stand

0 Points

Penalty

Expires

Valtteri Bottas N/A N/A
Nyck de Vries N/A N/A
Lewis Hamilton N/A N/A
Oscar Piastri N/A N/A
Logan Sargeant N/A N/A
Carlos Sainz Jr. N/A N/A

1 Point

Penalty

Expires

Charles Leclerc  (One Point) Awarded for gaining an advantage after leaving the track at the end of the Japanese Grand Prix (2022) Oct 9, 2023

2 Points

Penalty

Expires

Sergio Perez (Two points) Awarded for not staying within 10 car lengths of the safety car during the Singapore Grand Prix (2022) 2nd October 2023
Yuki Tsunoda (Two points) Awarded for ignoring yellow flags during the Italian Grand Prix (Practice session) (2022) 10th September 2023
Max Verstappen (Two points) Awarded for causing a collision during the Brazilian Grand Prix (2022) 13th November 2023

3 Points

Penalty

Expires

Mick Schumacher (One point) Awarded for exceeding track limits during the United States Grand Prix (2022) 23rd October 2023
(Two points) Awarded for causing a collision during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (2023) 20th November 2023
Kevin Magnussen (Two points) – Awarded for causing a collision during the Miami Grand Prix (2022) 8th May 2023
(One point) – Awarded for gaining a position by leaving the track during the Italian Grand Prix (2022) 11th September 2023
Lando Norris (One point) – Awarded for exceeding track limits during the Austrian Grand Prix (2022) 10th July 2023
(Two points) – Awarded for causing a collision during the Brazilian Grand Prix (2022) 13th November 2023

4 Points

Penalty

Expires

George Russell (Two points) – Awarded for causing a collision during the Austrian Grand Prix (2022) 10th July 2023
(Two points) – Awarded for causing a collision during the United States Grand Prix (2022) 23rd October 2023
Guanyu Zhou (One point) – Awarded gaining a lasting advantage during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix (2022) 26th March 2023
(one point) – Awarded for exceeding track limits during the Austrian Grand Prix (2022) 10th July 2023
(Two points) – Awarded for causing a collision during the French Grand Prix (2022) 23rd July 2023

5 Points

Penalty

Expires

Esteban Ocon (Two points) – Awarded for causing a collision during the Bahrain Grand Prix (2022) 20th March 2023
(One point) – Awarded for causing a collision during the Monaco Grand Prix (2022) 29th May 2023
(Two points) – Awarded for causing a collision during the French Grand Prix (2022) 23rd July 2023

6 Points

Penalty

Expires

Fernando Alonso (Two points) Awarded for causing a collision during the Miami Grand Prix (2022) 8th May 2023
(One point) Awarded for cutting the track and gaining an advantage during the Miami Grand Prix (2022) 8th May 2023
(One point) Awarded for weaving on track during the Canadian Grand Prix (2022) 19th June 2023
(Two points) Awarding for causing a collision during the Brazilian Grand Prix (sprint race) (2022) 12th November 2023

7 Points

Penalty

Expires

Alex Albon (Two points) Awarded for causing a collision during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix (2022) 26th March 2023]
(One point) Awarded for exceeding track limits during the Spanish Grand Prix (2022) 22nd May 2023
(One point) Awarded for leaving the track and gaining an advantage during the Monaco Grand Prix (2022) 29th May 2023
(Two points) Awarded for forcing another driver off track during the Austrian Grand Prix (2022) 9th July 2023
(One point) Awarded for holding position after going off the track during the United States Grand Prix (2022) 23rd October 2023

8 Points

Penalty

Expires

Lance Stroll (Two points) Awarded for causing a collision during the Australian Grand Prix (2022) 10th April 2023
(One point) Awarded for weaving on track during the Australian Grand Prix (2022) 10th April 2023
(Two points) Awarded for causing a collision during the United States Grand Prix (2022) 23rd October 2023
(Three points) Awarded for a dangerous maneuver on another driver during the Brazilian Grand Prix (Sprint) (2022) 12th November 2023
Daniel Ricciardo (One point) Awarded for impeding another driver during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix (2022) 25th March 2023
(One point) Awarded for leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage during the Miami Grand Prix (2022) 8th May 2023
(Two points) Awarded for causing a collision during the Hungarian Grand Prix (2022) 30th July 2023
(Two points) Awarded for causing a collision during the Mexican Grand Prix (2022) 30th October 2023
(Two points) Awarded for causing a collision during the Brazilian Grand Prix (2022) 13th November 2023

10 Points

Penalty

Expires

Pierre Gasly (Two points) Awarded for causing a collision during the F1 Spanish Grand Prix (2022) 22nd May 2023
(Two points) Awarded for causing a collision during the Austrian Grand Prix (2022) 10th July 2023
(One point) Awarded for exceeding track limits during the Austrian Grand Prix (2022) 10th July 2023
(Two points) Awarded for speeding under a red flag during the Japanese Grand Prix (2022) 9th October 2023
(Two points) Awarded for failing to keep a distance of 10 car lengths behind the safety car during the United States Grand Prix (2022) 23rd October 2023
(One point) Awarded for forcing another driver off the track and gaining an advantage during the Mexican Grand Prix (2022) 30th October 2023