Formula 1

F1 News: Pierre Gasly Horribly Close To Race Ban After Sprint Race Mishap

AlphaTauri driver Pierre Gasly is creeping closer and closer to a race ban with the French driver currently only two points away. Now, with the Sprint Race of the Brazilian Grand Prix over, he’s facing the stewards for yet another summons.

According to F1FAll.com, he was summoned to the stewards for driving too slowly on reconnaissance ahead of the sprint race. This weekend’s race director Niels Wittich has noted that drivers must stay within the maximum lap times produced by two safety cars – a procedure that is followed for every race. But it looks as though Gasly is now heading for the stewards for up to 2 penalty points.

Nicholas Latifi came up against a similar summons at the Mexican Grand Prix and left with a warning, so fans of Gasly will be hoping for a similar result.

It’s interesting to note that another three drivers have also been called to the stewards, but over a possible start procedure infringement. Lewis Hamilton, Daniel Ricciardo, and Zhou Guanyu all received possible infringements which are currently being investigated, but these are expected to stem from sensor issues on the track.

Mercedes’ Andrew Shovlin, the team’s trackside engineer, said the following:

“It may be linked to positioning in the box, but we’ve got the onboard, and it looks like we’re very, very conservative in where we positioned it in terms of the line,” Shovlin said on Sky Sports after qualifying.

“Whether it was a sensor issue, I don’t know. From the images we’ve seen, there doesn’t look to be any hint that we were outside of that box.”

Showing viewers images of where the Mercedes started on the grid, Shovlin is adamant that there was nothing wrong with the starting position. Therefore, it’s unlikely anything will come of this that will affect the Mercedes 1-2 we’ll see at tomorrow’s Grand Prix.

Alex Harrington

Alex started racing at a young age so certainly knows his way around a car and a track. He can just about put a sentence together too, which helps. He has a great interest in the latest models, but would throw all of his money at a rusty old French classic and a 300ZX. Contact: [email protected]

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