Pierre Gasly has been left ruing the "unfortunate" incidents in Formula 1 qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix which resulted in him receiving a double grid penalty. The Frenchman achieved his strongest grid position of the 2023 F1 season so far by claiming P4, putting him on the second row alongside Lando Norris. However, Gasly was summoned to the stewards after the session due to two separate incidents. In the first, he appeared to impede Carlos Sainz in the penultimate corner during Q1, while he seemed to impede Max Verstappen later in the session. Gasly was handed a three-place grid penalty for each incident, meaning that he will now start the race from P10.
'Fine margins' near the front
Having originally achieved P4, Gasly was pleased with how close his Alpine was able to get to the front of the pack. "I'm very pleased to qualify in fourth place in qualifying, my best result with Alpine this season," he explained after the session. "It was very close out there, very fine margins between many cars, and in the end we're just less than one tenth of a second from being on the front row. "We built up our session well, kept finding improvements and then we finished with a very good lap in Q3, which was really enjoyable I must say."
Gasly: We have to accept penalty
Gasly was left disappointed at having to drop back on the grid due to his penalties, but remains determined to fight back in Sunday's race. "It’s a real pity we will not start from the second row after the penalty for impeding," he added. "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 [Sunday] where I know we can still have a strong race." Gasly's teammate Esteban Ocon – who achieved a podium result last time out in Monaco – will start from P6.
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