Toro Rosso's Pierre Gasly was hit with a post-race five-second time penalty by the British Grand Prix stewards for his collision with Force India's Sergio Perez, the Frenchman subsequently losing his tenth-place point.
Gasly battled Perez for P10 in the closing stages of the race, gaining the upper hand over the Mexican with just a handful of laps to go but only after the pair made contact through Silverstone's Turn 16 left-hander.
An investigation by the stewards after the race concluded that Gasly's move had been "generally reasonable and that he was attempting to make a good racing pass" only to add that the Frenchman was "wholly or predominantly to blame" for the contact after he hit the sausage kerb at the apex of Turn 16, which caused him to collide with Perez.
"This subsequently forced Perez off the track on driver’s left before Turn 17 and severely compromised his ability to race through turns 17 and 18, and Gasly was thus able to pass Perez. While the collision was light it led directly to the pass," concluded the report.
Before the penalty was announced, Gasly suggested his wheel-to-wheel battle with his rival had simply reflected some good racing.
"I had a tough battle with Sergio towards the end of the race, I saw one chance in the last chicane which was really tight and we touched a bit, but in the end I managed to make the move.
"I don't think it was a big deal. For me it was a nice battle, I enjoyed it. It’s racing, that's what I like about racing, when you have close fights."
However, briefed with the bad news late in the day, Gasly took to Twitter to vent his frustration.
5sec penalty, ridiculous...
Every weekends there are contacts with no further action, that’s part of racing & what makes it exciting! Was close battle, I enjoyed it. Just let us race and stop all this bullshit with penalties! Will keep fighting. pic.twitter.com/l9RlU6XDyu— Pierre Gasly 🇫🇷 (@PierreGASLY) July 8, 2018
In the final results, Gasly is demoted to 13th behind Stoffel Vandoorne and Lance Stroll, while Perez inherits P10 and a championship point.
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