Pierre Gasly and Lando Norris touched each other exiting Turn 8 with 18 laps to go, causing the McLaren driver to hit the wall on the left-hand side of the circuit and have to retire.
That came after Gasly went wide at Turn 7, allowing Mick Schumacher and Kevin Magnussen to pass him, before Norris also tried to overtake him and caught Gasly’s left front tyre.
The stewards noted the incident but chose not to take any action. Gasly retired shortly after the crash and reported that something in the right rear of his car was broken and had caused him to come off.
Gasly explained to the media after the race that the damage had been done a lap earlier when he collided with Alpine driver Alonso when the Spaniard tried to sneak around the inside of Turn 1.
“We tried to do one more lap to see if we could continue, but the car was too damaged, I couldn’t even stay on track or turn left anymore,” Gasly explained.
“Then on our last lap, on the way back to the pits, I was going slow after turn 7, and yeah, every car passed me. I was trying to turn right to make room, and Norris came up and hit my left front wheel.
Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images
Gasly added that he was going “very slow” at the time and was “trying to push the car to the right as much as I could.”
“I saw some guys go by, and yeah, at Turn 8, I was turning right and Lando came up,” Gasly said. “It’s all going pretty fast, he was trying to make room for everybody, he came up to me, and he touched the front left.”
Gasly doesn’t think it’s necessary to apologize to Norris, saying: “I was trying to give him space. He probably could have gone left, I was making a right, you can see it on repeat. I don’t know where he could have gone.”
When Lando Norris was informed of Gasly’s explanation, the McLaren man accepted that his retirement was “just unfortunate”.
“He turns right and the track goes that way, and he just crossed it,” Norris said. “I don’t know what I was supposed to do, just drive right next to the wall and hope for the best or something. So I was just unlucky I guess.”
Fernando Alonso received a five-second penalty for the collision with Gasly. The Spaniard then sought out the Frenchman in the media corralito after the race to apologize and took full blame for the incident.
“I was very optimistic in the overtaking attempt,” admitted Alonso. “They gave me a penalty, five seconds, which I deserve, it was my mistake, I braked too late. We were ready to give him back the position, but he pitted at that moment, so I have to take those five seconds.
Alonso was handed another five-second penalty after the race for going off track and gaining a lead at Turn 14 on the penultimate lap, relegating him to 11th in the final standings and snatching two points from him after being eighth in clue.
