Pierre Gasly is set to be banned from the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, after he crashed into Alpine team-mate Esteban Ocon in the latter part of today’s Australian Grand Prix.
Gasly turned across the track without checking his mirrors, and consequently made contact with his team-mate, forcing them both to immediately retire.
The former Red Bull driver is likely to be adjudged to have been responsible for the collision, and he will be awarded additional penalty points.
This will bring his 12-month running total to above 12 points, leading to an automatic one-race ban.
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Coming into the 2023 Australian Grand Prix, Gasly was sitting on 10 penalty points.
Two of these penalty points will expire on 22 May – one year after picked them up for causing a collision with Lance Stroll at the 2022 Spanish Grand Prix.
Alpine recently tried to wipe clean some of Gasly’s penalty points, but this move was blocked by some of their rivals.
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It now seems inevitable that Gasly will be hit with a race ban, though it remains to be seen if Alpine will be able to successfully lobby against this.
Prior to his crash with Ocon, Gasly was having an exceptional race, with him running in the top five for most of the grand prix.
Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer was understandably disappointed with the outcome, but emphasised that the silver lining is their car had great pace in Melbourne.