The controversy began from the moment the F1 2022 Japanese GP started, where the drivers were not sure that it could be held under normal conditions, but the FIA decided to start in the usual way, with a start from the grid . So far, all relatively well, with the traditional incidents in the rain, but after Carlos Sainz’s strong blow in the second sector, the stewards went out to rescue the Spanish car with a crane.
That was what Pierre Gasly found, who passed a few meters from the extraction vehicle before his visible anger over the radio. However, the international federation chose to penalize the Frenchman at the end of the test with 20 seconds and 2 points in the super license .
The one from AlphaTauri saw how the stewards worked on the evacuation of the Maranello car when it was traveling at a fairly high speed, but the FIA investigated the action and concluded that the Frenchman did not respect the red flag regime.
In this way, Gasly fell to the bottom of the classification, behind Mick Schumacher, so the time penalty did not mean anything for the pilot, but the points in his super license, since he is close to the figure of 12 , which brings about the harsh punishment of missing an appointment. Currently, the recently announced signing of Alpine has 9 points , so if he adds 3 more he will have to stay out of the list of participants in a grand prize.
“The stewards listened to the driver of car 10 [Pierre Gasly] and the team representative. They reviewed video evidence and telemetry,” the FIA statement said. “After passing the scene of the incident, car 10 was running under red flag at speeds in excess of 200 km/h on multiple occasions, reaching 251 km/h at one point.”
“The pilot admitted that he already understood that there could be marshals or obstacles on the track, and recognized that he was going too fast,” the text continued. “However, to mitigate the sanction, we take into account that although the speed could not be considered ‘slow’, as required by the regulations.”
“It was slower than the maximum speed that could be achieved in those conditions. We also take into account the surprise that the driver experienced when he saw a crane on the line in the incident curve,” explained the FIA.
“Drivers are reminded that they have the right to appeal certain decisions of the stewards, in accordance with article 15 of the FIA International Sporting Code and Chapter 4 of the FIA Judicial and Disciplinary Regulations, within the prescribed time limits,” the federation ruled.
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