Gasly escapes stewards with warning

Ewan Gale
Saturday 12 November 2022 22:54 - Updated: 22:55

Pierre Gasly has escaped with only a warning having breached the minimum lap time on his reconnaissance lap to the grid for the São Paulo Grand Prix.

AlphaTauri driver Gasly entered the weekend with 10 points on his licence with 12 points accrued in a 12-month rolling period triggering a ban from the next event.

Talks have begun with the FIA over the legitimacy of some of the points given the nature of the incidents that have delivered the punishments.

Gasly in particular has amassed points through exceeding track limits and driving too slow behind the safety car, as well as infringements in practice.

But after the 24-lap sprint at Interlagos, Gasly was summoned over allegedly driving too slowly on his reconnaissance laps before the race.

Handing out a warning, the stewards' report read: "The stewards took into account that there were people on the grid just after SC Line 1, however the driver is responsible for driving the required speed during the entire lap.

"The race director’s Note to Teams [document 20] specified a maximum time of 1:12.0secs between the safety car lines and car 10 [Gasly] recorded a time of 1:14.185s."

Any penalty would have been perilous for the Frenchman as AlphaTauri aim to surpass Haas for eighth in the constructors' standings.

Speaking ahead of the race weekend, Gasly said: "I'm not going to lie, it's a very unpleasant situation and is quite delicate and, in some ways, quite embarrassing.

"To be standing in a position where I could be banned after the season I have done, I don't really feel I have been particularly dangerous over these last 12 months and that would be definitely a harsh penalty.

"But there have been a lot of discussions with the FIA, trying to find a solution because personally, I want to do all of the races. I want to finish the season in the best way I can with AlphaTauri."