Formula 1’s sporting body allowed Pierre Gasly to escape punishment for a crash that send himself and teammate Esteban Ocon into the barriers after the second red flag restart.
Gasly had put on an impressive performance for his team, moving up four place to fifth, while Ocon was in a battle for the final points scoring spot on the podium.
As the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz collided with the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso, Gasly ran wide on turn one, rejoining the track amid the chaos before colliding with Ocon’s car.
Both of the Alpines hit the wall and were unable to complete the race, losing their shot at a strong finish for the team.
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The unfortunate end was painful for the team though, as it saw them demoted to sixth place in the Constructors’ Championship, behind rivals McLaren.
After the race, the stewards saved Gasly from a race ban by deeming the crash as a racing incident, rather than laying the blame on the Frenchman.
“The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 10 (Pierre Gasly), the driver of Car 31 (Esteban Ocon), a team representative and reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video and in-car video evidence and determined that it was a first lap racing incident,” the FIA said in a statement.
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“Both cars recognised and accepted this as such. In the circumstances, we took no further action.”
If the FIA had penalised Gasly for the crash, he would have found himself out of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, as he would’ve exceeded the allotted penalty points for the year.
Gasly currently has 10 points on his licence, putting him at risk of a ban if he is found to have been responsible for an incident before 22nd May.