皮埃尔气体wants FIA talks over ‘harsh’ calls leading to ‘stupid penalty points’
皮埃尔气体with his hand on his head at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Hungaroring July 2022.
Two penalty points away from a race ban, Pierre Gasly says he’ll have to “change” his approach before he finds himself on the sidelines.
Gasly has earned himself five penalty points in October alone and, given that he doesn’t lose any until May next year, he’s walking a fine line.
This month he received two points for speeding under red flag conditions in Japan, two for falling back further than the mandated 10 car lengths behind the Safety Car in Austin, and one on Sunday for forcing another driver off the track and gaining an advantage at the Mexican Grand Prix.
With a further five on the board from earlier this season it meanstwo more and he’ll be banned for one race.
The AlphaTauri driver feels his Mexican GP penalty point as well as the five-second time penalty weren’t fair as Race Control should have told him to give the position back to Stroll.
“I’m a racing driver – if I see a gap, I go for a gap,” he said.
“If you are not happy about it then tell me to give the position back and I’ll try again.
“I wasn’t given any comments, so that’s a shame.
“Of course (thought of giving it back), so just need to say it on the radio.
“That’s what they’ve done in the past, but for some reason not this time.”
REWIND TO LAP 14 ⏪
Gasly has been handed a 5-second penalty for pushing Stroll off the track#MexicoGP#F1pic.twitter.com/1ggKHT6m9J
— Formula 1 (@F1)October 30, 2022
The time penalty meantGasly finished the grand prix in 11th place, the Frenchman left to rue what could have been.
“We ended up 4s short of P9, so without the penalty we know what was on the table,” he explained.
“It’s a shame it’s the same story. It’s just a shame to be involved in these incidents.
“I’ll have to change my approach because every weekend it seems to be quite the same story so I’ll have to change something.”
The drivers wants to have a talk with the FIA, saying that he feels the penalties have been “very harsh” of late.
He continued: “Last weekend [in Austin] half the grid was given too much space behind the Safety Car and I was penalised.
“This weekend 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 inside the car, the last thing I want is to [pick up] stupid penalty points and lose race time.
“At the moment, they’re unhappy with what I’m doing so I will have a discussion with them to understand exactly what I got to change.”
