Gasly hit with cumulative six-place grid drop for Spanish GP

Pierre Gasly's strong P4 performance in qualifying on Saturday in Barcelona will have been in vain as the Alpine driver has been dropped six places on Sunday's grid.

Gasly was handed two three-place grid penalties by the Spanish Grand Prix stewards after impeding Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz in separate incidents in the qualifying session.

Both cases were clear-cut transgressions as far as the stewards were concerned.

In the first instance in Q1, Gasly blocked Sainz at Turn 13, with the officials noting that the Frenchman "was aware that Car 55 was behind but felt that he could do nothing to avoid impeding because of the high speed delta and the closeness of Car 55 to Car 16 [Charles Leclerc]."

However, the stewards judged that Gasly could have moved further to the right at the exit of Turn 13 to avoid hindering the Ferrari driver's pace.

In the second instance which also took place in Q1, the stewards deemed that Alpine "failed to give appropriate warning [to Gasly] of the approach of Car 1 [Verstappen], having told him that the cars behind were on a slow lap."

• 2023 Spanish Grand Prix - Qualifying results

Despite the unlucky setbacks, Gasly vowed to keep his head down for Sunday's race which he will start from tenth on the grid.

“It’s a real pity we will not start from the second row tomorrow after the penalty for impeding," he said.

"I think it was very unfortunate with the traffic, cars so close together and the high-speed final corners.

"We have to accept it, move on and keep our heads down for tomorrow where I know we can still have a strong race."

Looking past his sanctions, the Frenchman was happy with his team's follow-up performance in Spain after its solid Monaco Grand Prix weekend.

"I must say, I'm very happy for the team because it's the best qualifying of the season," he said. "I'm just happy with the evolution we've been showing throughout the last few weekends.

"It's still early in the season, and I am still learning about the team every weekend. They're learning about myself. It's about putting things together.

"I really feel like every weekend, we're making a step forward."

Gasly's teammate Esteban Ocon who qualified seventh will start his Spanish Grand Prix from P5.

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