Pierre Gasly received a massive 50-place grid penalty for the F1 British Grand Prix.
The Alpine driver was hit with five separate 10-place grid penalties.
Gasly had exceeded his annual allocation of power unit components, leading to the penalty for Silverstone.
As a result, he was supposed to start at the back of the grid, while Sergio Perez was set to start from the pitlane.
However, a last-minute issue with Gasly’s car forced him into the pits, reducing the starting grid to just 18 cars. Gasly did not even get the chance to start the race.
Gasly’s penalty stemmed from his use of new Internal Combustion Engine (ICE), Turbocharger (TC), Motor Generator Unit-Heat (MGU-H) and Motor Generator Unit-Kinetic (MGU-K) components for the British Grand Prix, exceeding the allowable limit of four for each.
A 10-place grid penalty was applied for each of these five components.
Gasly’s significant penalty draws comparisons to Jenson Button in Mexico nine years ago.
Back then, McLaren driver Button was handed a 70-place grid penalty for violating multiple engine rules.
Similarly, McLaren faced a combined 55-place grid penalty for their two drivers in Belgium in 2015.
Button received a 25-place drop for four engine-related infractions, while teammate Fernando Alonso was demoted 30 places for similar offences.
Despite signing a new contract with Alpine, Gasly’s streak of scoring points in the past four races was halted by the 50-place penalty at the British Grand Prix, as he encountered a suspected gearbox issue during pre-race preparations.
