Pierre Gasly has slammed the pit lane speeding rule after 10-second time penalty cost him a podium at the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix.
The Alpine driver executed a brilliant race from ninth on the grid to finish the chaotic race on the streets of the Principality in third, at the chequered flag.
That said, Gasly was quickly demoted down to P7 after accumulating two separate five-second penalties for speeding in the pit lane.
The first incident saw the stewards punish the Frenchman for being 0.1 kph over the 60kph pit lane speed limit. The second incident deemed he was 0.4kph over the limit.
After the race, however, Gasly was visibly inconsolable as he deemed the FIA had been “unfair” to him.
“I don’t think there is anything that could hurt me more right now,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“It’s 10 years I’m f*cking working my ass off for this type of moment. We did everything right today.
“Standing on that podium in front of all the fans that turned up and this is the type of moment that for me can’t be taken away from us by unfair reasons.
“What’s going on right now is not right and hopefully they can make the right calls.”
Gasly demands the FIA to re-calibrate its systems after ‘silly’ F1 Monaco GP penalty
The 30-year-old was adamant that he was under the speed limit. He argued that putting on the speed limiter was “probably the most simple setting” to activate in an F1 car.
Gasly wasn’t the only driver to face the brunt of the speeding penalties. The Frenchman was quick to point this out to expose the inadequacies of the policing measures.
“I know for a fact that what’s in the car is below the 60kph and I know on both occasions I’ve put it way before the line and that’s probably the most simple setting you can put in a Formula 1 car when you have 3 or 4 teams that get caught for speeding,” he insisted.
“Hopefully it rings a bell to the guys that they need to check exactly what’s going on.
“It’s just not right. [Sebastian] Vettel had a similar thing in Singapore ‘09 when he cut the corner and that’s what triggers the speeding.
“He said it was time for the rules to change, that it’s a silly system.”
Pierre Gasly lost for words after Monaco podium ‘heartbreak’
Gasly was on course to secure the sixth podium finish of his F1 career.
Naturally, the 2020 Italian GP winner, was distraught at how the afternoon panned out for him, despite a valiant effort in the A526.
Gasly put on a stellar defence against the MCL40 of Lando Norris, before getting the jump on Isack Hadjar during the red-flag restart to place himself in third.
“It’s been 10 years; I’m fighting very hard to get every single opportunity,” Gasly concluded.
“I managed to get 5 podiums, which is not enough if you ask me, and I deserve this one. Hopefully they can do something.
“As I said, it’s a very simple setting, it’s the car. At the moment, I don’t really have an answer. I’m feeling heartbroken.
“I crossed the line in P3. Starting from P9, we managed to do everything we needed.”
Despite this let-down, Gasly will have to shift his focus quickly to Barcelona as F1 moves onto the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, next weekend.
READ MORE – Charles Leclerc demands Ferrari inquiry after being left ‘a passenger’ in F1 Monaco GP crash
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