During qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix, Pierre Gasly saw his best time in Q1 erased for having crossed the limits of the track at turn 5. His teammate Yuki Tsunoda and Mick Schumacher also received the same sanction.
Sergio Perez also saw one of his times canceled for the same reason, before the FIA race directors backtracked, judging that the Mexican had finally respected the track limits after reviewing the action from several angles. .
Believing that he too had kept his F1 within the limits of the track, Gasly was frustrated and made sure to let race management know before the Grand Prix.
« Based on what happened, I was quite upset because from the footage I viewed, it was very debatable whether I was still on the trail or not, » said the AlphaTauri pilot.
« Similar things happened to Yuki and Checo, and from their dash cams they were clearly on the trail. But hey, that’s how it was. »
The French driver, on the other hand, said he was satisfied after having held a discussion with Eduardo Freitas and Niels Wittich: the system will be improved in 2023 and Gasly was happy with the position of the two race directors.
« I spent 40 minutes talking with Niels and Eduardo in order to find a solution that could satisfy everyone. »
« They have a lot of work at the moment, they don’t have it easy. Obviously in Turn 5 they didn’t have the best tools at their disposal to make it as fair as possible. We talked solutions for the future to achieve more consistency and ensure that we are moving in the right direction. »
« They were quite open, I think they are waiting for our feedback and so I will go see the other drivers in the coming weeks to help them find solutions. »
Judging that the images from its on-board camera « didn’t make it possible to check whether or not I was on the track, » Gasly says Formula 1 could bring additional equipment for better control in 2023.
« That’s what we discussed. I know they are already looking at different options for next year, but unfortunately I was the one who had to pay the consequences of this incident. »
