Alpine's Pierre Gasly has been disqualified from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying session following a breach of the FIA’s fuel flow regulations.
After initially securing 13th place in Saturday’s qualifying session, Gasly's car failed post-session scrutineering when FIA sensors detected that his engine had "exceeded the instantaneous fuel mass flow" limit during Q2.
In its hearing with the FIA stewards, the Enstone squad’s representatives argued that no performance advantage had been gained from the misdemeanor, as Gasly’s slower lap in the segment indicated.
But the argument did not pass muster with the FIA’s technical delegate.
"The usual penalty for a breach of the technical regulations is disqualification and the Stewards note that Article 1.3.3 of the International Sporting Code states 'If an Automobile is found not to comply with the applicable technical regulations, it shall be no defence to claim that no performance advantage was obtained',” stated the stewards’ report.
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The disqualification only added to Gasly and to the Alpine team’s woes in Baku.
Gasly's teammate, Esteban Ocon, faced multiple mechanical issues, including MGU-H problems in FP1 and a fuel pump failure at the start of FP3. These issues forced Ocon to an early engine change, and he ultimately ended up qualifying last when, adding insult to injury, he hit the wall in Q1.
Considering Gasly’s disqualification, both Alpine drivers are now set to start Sunday’s race from the back of the grid, alongside Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu, who is serving an engine penalty.
However, the team could choose to use the opportunity to make additional changes to Gasly’s car and start him from the pit lane instead.
Reflecting on the weekend before learning of his disqualification, Gasly was actually surprised to have made it into Q2 and ending the session P13.
"It was amazing. I thought it would be 17th and 18th, ended up in 13th so I can't really ask for much more," commented the Frenchman whose disqualification later in the day likely dampened his mood.
"It was an extremely tough weekend since FP1, just couldn't get the car working anywhere. We made some changes, everything we've done went in the right direction so I think that's positive. I managed to [pull off] all my laps in Q1 and Q2.
"Obviously, I wish I could be further up the grid, but with the car we had and compared to the others, I think we did the absolute best, so happy with that. We know on pure pace we should not be there."
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