Pierre Gasly is still on the verge of a racing ban after the incidents in the 2022 Formula 1 season. The Frenchman currently has ten penalty points, with drivers having to sit out a race from twelve penalty points over a period of one year.
The problem for Gasly, however, is: His next two penalty points won’t expire until May 22, 2023. Before that, seven Grands Prix – or six in the event of a possible cancellation of the China race – will have taken place.
So he will continue to be in acute danger in his first seven races for his new Alpine team. A nightmare scenario for Gasly, as he thinks he has a great chance of a good World Championship placement next season, with every point and every race counting, of course.
Pierre Gasly’s penalty points at a glance:
Spain: Causing a collision (Lance Stroll) – 2 points Austria: Causing a collision (Sebastian Vettel) – 2 points Austria: Multiple unjustified departures from the track – 1 point Japan: Speeding under a red flag – 2 points USA: Car fell More than 10 car lengths behind the safety car – 2 points Mexico: Leaving the track and gaining an advantage (Lance Stroll) – 1 point
Gasly: ”I’m just trying not to think about it”
Especially because he doesn’t classify himself as a dangerous driver, Gasly is upset about the accumulated penalty points. “I try not to think about it because I don’t see myself as a stupid or dangerous driver,” he says.
“I’m trying to be careful with all those, shall we say, silly penalties that you can get from procedures and things like that. So I’m trying to manage that. I think my approach to racing is the same though remained.”
Gasly wants to achieve rule change over winter break
After the last incident against Lance Stroll in Mexico, Gasly asked the FIA to relax the rules on penalty points. After the season finale in Abu Dhabi, however, he did it again.
“I really hope we can overhaul the whole system over the winter because I don’t think I’ll be the only one having problems if we keep it like this. And it would be embarrassing to see like four or five racers get suspended for one race and we have a championship where some guys have to miss a race.”
He already has the support of the driver community GPDA. GPDA director George Russell has already stressed that Gasly is by no means a dangerous racing driver, which is why the Frenchman is in talks with the driver community to convince the FIA of this.
After the crane incident in Japan, when the AlphaTauri pilot sometimes drove well over 200 km/h under red flags, Gasly classified this as a “reckless driver”. “We talk all the time [mit der GPDA darüber]”, he says.
“And some other guys are just four points away too. And next year we have 24 races and six sprints, so that’s 30 races in a year. When the system was introduced we only had 19 or 20 races. So it makes perfect sense to allow more penalty points on the super licence. But I think the FIA will look into this and find solutions to make it fairer for everyone.”