Alpine’s Pierre Gasly has been disqualified from qualifying for the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix due to a technical infringement.
Gasly finished 13th during Saturday’s qualifying session, but that was jeopardised by the FIA’s Formula 1 Technical Delegate Jo Bauer post-session checks.
Bauer found Gasly’s Alpine to have “exceeded the instantaneous fuel mass flow” in contradiction with Article 5.2.3 of the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations.
As a result, Bauer submitted the matter to the FIA Race Stewards to deliver a verdict.
Gasly and Alpine were then summoned to the Stewards at 18:30 local time at Baku.
Unsurprisingly, as has been the case with technical infringements in other qualifying sessions, the Stewards declared Gasly was disqualified.
“The Technical Delegate reported that Car 10 exceeded the permitted 100Kg/h fuel mass flow on the final timed lap of Q2,” the Stewards’ verdict read.
“The team representatives explained that they had an unexpected short duration technical fault that raised the fuel mass flow greater than expected in a transient fashion.
“The cause was agreed by the FIA technical staff. That the fuel mass flow was greater than the limit at that moment was not disputed by the competitor.
“The competitor demonstrated to the Stewards that the technical fault resulted in a slower lap time and that no performance advantage was obtained at that moment.
“Thus, they argue, this should be taken into mitigation. They also noted that the great rarity of breaches of this article demonstrates that this is not part of their strategy, and that the scale of the transient simply exceeded the margin they maintain to prevent a beach.
“The usual penalty for a breach of the technical regulations is disqualification and the Stewards note that Article 1.3.3 of the International Sporting Code states ‘If an Automobile is found not to comply with the applicable technical regulations, it shall be no defence to claim that no performance advantage was obtained.’
“In addition to the Code this has long been the position of the International Court of Appeal. Thus, the Stewards apply the usual penalty and disqualify the car and driver from the classification of qualifying.”
As a result, the Frenchman will prop up the field right from the back for Sunday’s race.
As a result, Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu, who was set to start in 20th after a power unit change, has been promoted one place further up the grid.
In addition, all remaining drivers who finished behind Gasly in qualifying will feature one place on the grid as well.
The announcement heaps further misery on Alpine after Esteban Ocon suffered an early elimination in Q1.
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