BRITISH GRAND PRIX: F1 STAR PIERRE GASLY HANDED MASSIVE GRID PENALTY AT SILVERSTONE

Pierre Gasly has taken a massive grid penalty for this weekend's British Grand Prix.

Alpine have taken the decision to swap in several new engine components. He will use his fifth internal combustion engine of the season, as well as a new turbocharger, control electronics and fresh kinetic and heat energy generator units.

All of them are in excess of Gasly's individual allowance for the season, sparking a automatic grid penalties. Any driver who exceeds 15 places' worth of penalties is required to start from the very back of the grid, regardless of their qualifying position.

The punishment does, however, give the opportunity for Alpine to have a free hit on the set-up of Gasly's car. Parc ferme regulations state any significant changes made after the start of qualifying will force that car to start from the pit lane, which is not much of a punishment for a driver starting from the very back anyway.

The Frenchman signed a new contract with Alpine only last month. Team-mate Esteban Ocon is leaving and the identity of his replacement has yet to be confirmed - though Gasly has made it clear who he would like to race alongside next term.

He said: "It's not up to me. 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."

The team's bid to land number one target Sainz has been boosted by an upturn in recent form which Gasly was relieved to see. He said: "I think the team is doing well. It's really like sticking together since the start of the year. We're all extremely disappointed with the sort of performance we got out of the car, but we just looked at ourselves [and] always tried to improve on all areas.

"The team did a fantastic job reducing the car weight at the start of the year, improving small bits and pieces there and really focusing on what we can do, be self-objective and work on every single part we can to improve the end result on a Sunday.

"I think we've been operating very well these last few weekends. Obviously, the car is still where it is and we wish we could add more performance to fight the top eight, but at the minute we know what the target is and what we should focus on with the package we've got, and try to maximise the opportunities to grab a point or two here."

2024-07-05T15:21:32Z dg43tfdfdgfd