Pierre Gasly won a race point at the British Grand Prix and then lost it because of a penalty imposed post-race for his collision with Sergio Perez.
Gasly took the 10th place at the chequered flag and had a small contact with Perez at the Vale left-hander during the closing laps.
The stewards investigated the issue and handed the Frenchman a five-second penalty which effectively demoted him to the 13th place and cost him a race point.
According to the stewards, Gasly’s move was “generally reasonable and that he was attempting to make a good racing pass”. However, he was “wholly or predominantly to blame” for the contact at the apex of the Vale left-hander.
They also said: “This subsequently forced Perez off the track on driver’s left before Turn 17 [Club] 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.”
Speaking with media before the stewards’ ruling, Gasly said: “It’s racing, that’s what I like about racing, when you have close fights.
“I don’t think it was a big deal, we touched a bit, but we both stayed on track. For me it was a nice battle, I enjoyed it.”
After hearing the ruling, the Frenchman said penalties for such small incidents will “make racing boring”.
“I don’t think we should make a big deal [of it],” said Gasly. “When I went for it, I wasn’t expecting to touch him, but just with the tyres, everything, we touched a bit, but honestly it was really small.”
