Pierre Gasly has been handed a massive grid penalty for this weekend’s British Grand Prix after Alpine changed his power unit.
Pierre Gasly is set to start the British Grand Prix from the back of the grid after Alpine made another power unit change at Silverstone.
The Enstone-based team decided to change a number of its engine components for his fifth internal combustion engine of the season including a new turbo-charger, MGU-H and MGU-K – the maximum allowed of those parts, as well as the two permitted energy stores and control electronics.
Given the changes all exceed Gasly’s season-long allowance, an automatic grid penalty takes effect.Article 42.3d of the sporting regulations indicates that any driver with more than 15 places worth of penalties must start from the very back of the grid regardless of qualifying position.
However, the penalty certainly gives Alpine an advantage in fine tuning Gasly’s car setup over the weekend. According to parc ferme regulations, any significant changes made to the car after qualifying begins will result in it starting from the pit lane which isn’t too harsh of a penalty for a driver who starts from the back.
A number of drivers further extended the pool of power unit parts already in circulation, including Sergio Perez and the two RB drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda. With comprehensive engines changes for each, all three find themselves on their fourth and final original pool parts.
For Gasly, the penalty comes after the Frenchman signed a new deal with Alpine last month, while teammate Esteban Ocon is set to leave at the end of the season. While his replacement remains to be confirmed, Gasly has said clearly who he wants to race alongside next season.
“It’s not up to me,” he said. “I can obviously see until I’m discussing with Bruno [Famin, team principal] and with the whole management on trying to tell them what’s my personal opinion.
“I think it’s quite clear, Carlos [Sainz] is the most experienced and most valuable guy out there.
“I would love to have him next to me next year, I think he’ll bring definitely a lot to the team and we’ll be a great pairing.
“But we’ve got also some very good options – we’ve got Jack [Doohan], weve got Mick [Schumacher] who’s been in F1, and we just have different great options.”
