Mexico penalty puts Gasly on brink of historic F1 race ban

The AlphaTauri driver picked up a five-second time penalty and one penalty point for forcing Lance Stroll off the track in Sunday’ race. 

During his attempts to pull off an overtake on Stroll in the early stages in Mexico, Gasly locked up and ran deep into Turn 4, pushing the Aston Martin driver beyond the white line. 

“Gasly made a pass on Stroll at Turn 4, however in doing so he locked up and left the track at the exit of the turn, completing the pass off track,” the stewards’ verdict read. “He thereby gained a lasting advantage.”

The Frenchman has now accumulated 10 penalty points over the last year. Repeat offenders that rack up 12 penalty points across a 12-month period are hit with an automatic one-race suspension. 

No F1 driver has reached the total since the rule was introduced in 2014, although Sebastian Vettel and Romain Grosjean came close. 

Gasly, who is joining Alpine for F1 2023, won’t see any of his points removed until May 23 next year. 

That means he will need to avoid incidents in the final two races of the year in Brazil and Abu Dhabi, as well as the first seven rounds next season, to avoid becoming the first F1 driver to trigger a ban. 

What are Gasly’s penalty points for? 

All of Gasly’s penalty points have come this year. 

• Spain: Collision with Stroll - 2 points 
• Austria: Collision with Vettel - 2 points 
• Austria: Leaving the track without a justifiable reason multiple times - 1 point 
• Japan: Speeding under red flag conditions - 2 points 
• United States: Falling more than 10 car lengths behind the Safety Car - 2 points 
• Mexico: Going off track and gaining an advantage - 1 point