Gasly conflicted over Turkish GP penalty

Pierre Gasly has conceded he is unsure if his five-second penalty for spinning Fernando Alonso at the first corner of the Turkish Grand Prix "was the right thing or not".

On lap one and especially at the first corner of races in recent years, the FIA has been particularly lenient with penalties for contact in a bid to encourage hard racing.

However, Gasly landed himself with a five-second penalty after tagging the rear of Alonso's Alpine at turn one in damp conditions in Istanbul, with FIA race director Michael Masi later saying the sport was forced to "ratchet in" its leniency.

After being sandwiched between Alonso and Sergio Perez, Gasly was left questioning what he could have done to have avoided the contact.

“There was contact," said Gasly. "But for me, it was tight with Sergio inside of me and then Fernando was also on the outside so there wasn’t much space but there was contact and I did the penalty.

“I don’t know if it was the right thing or not. I need to have a look at the footage first.

"I knew he was there. I also saw Sergio was there and tried to go where I could.”

Gasly also suggested it is "not a good mix" with three drivers going side by side through turn one at the best of times and added: “I don’t really know where else I could have gone.

"But it’s a tricky one. Obviously, I don’t want to be involved in any crash that could ruin my race so I just try to stick between these two cars but I didn’t have much space.”

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