07/09/2024
NEWS STORY
Pierre Gasly offers to speak to stewards after incident that cost Kevin Magnussen a ban from the forthcoming Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
The pair were battling for position in the second chicane when they touched, and while neither suffered any damage the stewards imposed a 10-second time penalty on the Dane and the even more damaging 2 penalty points that brought him up to 12 in as many months thereby earning an automatic ban.
"Whilst the Haas had its front axle past the mirror of the Alpine, the Driving Standards Guidelines specify that an overtaking car has to 'be driven in a safe and controlled manner throughout the manoeuvre'," declared the Monza stewards, who determined that this was not the case for Magnussen who they deemed was wholly to blame for the collision.
"I'm really frustrated about the penalty," said Magnussen. "I don't understand it at all. Flat-out, just completely confused.
"We raced hard into Turn 4, we had slight contact, we both missed the corner, came back on track again; no damage to the car, no consequence to the race for either of us, and I get a 10-second penalty.
"Then, Lap 1, Ricciardo and Nico, Ricciardo put Nico on the grass at 300km/h, completely destroyed Nico's race, massive consequence and damage to Nico's car, and he gets a five-second penalty. Where's the logic?"
"I'm a bit surprised for that," said Gasly of the penalty. "He tried, but it was a bit of wheel-to-wheel. It didn't, in the end, really lose any time."
Asked if he might speak to the stewards on his rival's behalf, he said: "I'll be happy to do it. I'll see what I can do, that will feel very unfair for the incident that it was."
Meanwhile, Ricciardo, who clashed with Hulkenberg at the Ascari chicane on the opening lap, causing the Haas driver to run wide and lose a number of positions, spoke to the German at race end to explain the incident that cost him a 5-second time penalty.
"I wanted to just quickly check in and see from his perspective," said the Australian. "I felt the hit, but I don't know; was half the car in the grass or did he just drop the outside tyre and that locked him up on braking.
"Obviously I didn't give him enough room, period, so the least I can do is apologise," he admitted. "I was also curious, how bad was it? I knew I was in the wrong, but was it something that he wanted to punch my face in, or was it something that he was just like 'Yeah, you misjudged it by 10 centimetres'.
"Obviously he said, 'Yeah, you didn't give me enough room'," he revealed. "I also wanted to ask, like, did I kind of jerk across or did I just progressively move across?
"I like to be aggressive, but I'm not dirty, so I wanted to make sure, from his point of view; was it just aggressive, or was I being a bit of a prick?"