Gasly learns fate after nearly taking out Verstappen in the pit lane

Alpine has unsurprisingly been handed a fine by the United States Grand Prix stewards after Pierre Gasly came within inches of colliding with Max Verstappen in the pit lane during qualifying.

Gasly was forced to see the stewards after qualifying to answer an unsafe release charge. It what was an open-and-shut case for the stewards, Gasly came within inches of colliding Verstappen's Red Bull as the cars made their way out of the garages to take part in Q3.

The stewards heard from Gasly, and team representatives and reviewed video, team radio and in-car video evidence.

It was determined that "the mechanic for car 10 [Gasly] released the car into the path of car 1 [Verstappen], causing the driver of car 1 to take significant evasive action."

The stewards decided to fine Alpine €5,000.

It blotted a good qualifying session for Gasly and Alpine as the Frenchman qualified a superb seventh for Sunday's 56-lap race at Austin's Circuit of the Americas.