Pierre Gasly handed British GP grid penalty after qualifying infringement

Pierre Gasly will drop three places on the grid for the British Grand Prix after the stewards deemed him guilty of impeding Lance Stroll during qualifying at Silverstone.

The Alpine driver was found to have unnecessarily obstructed the Aston Martin driver after suffering from radio issues, earning a three-place grid drop as punishment.

Gasly had ended the qualifying session in 12th place but will now start from 15th on the grid. 

As a consequence, Audi's Nico Hulkenberg, Haas' Oliver Bearman and Williams' Carlos Sainz each move up one position on the starting grid.

The incident in question occurred in Q1, with the stewards explaining: “STR was on a timed lap in Q1. GAS was on an in lap and, on the approach to Turn 15, remained on the racing line at a slow speed, requiring STR to move off line in order to pass. 

“GAS explained that he had no functioning radio at the time, that he had been attempting radio checks and that he expected another driver (ANT), to remain behind him rather than overtake, as he understood ANT not to be on a timed lap. 

“The team representative pointed out that there was no radio warning to GAS because of a technical issue with FOM equipment, which was confirmed by FOM. 

“The Stewards accepted that these were unfortunate circumstances and took into account that the driver was left without the usual radio warning from the team. The team representative of STR also confirmed that, in his view, the circumstances were unfortunate. 

“However, the absence of a radio warning does not remove the driver’s responsibility to avoid impeding another car. GAS remained at a slow speed on the racing line and the evidence showed that the driver had information available to him, including the dashboard display, to appreciate STR was approaching on a timed lap. 

“In those circumstances, the Stewards determined that GAS unnecessarily impeded STR and therefore impose the standard penalty of a 3 grid position drop.” 

It is a frustrating blow for Gasly, who will now face a longer fight through the field come race day.

Stroll ended the session in 21st and ahead of team-mate Fernando Alonso, but is due to start at the back of the field after taking on fresh power unit components.