Pierre Gasly terms it 'a very unpleasant situation' to be facing an F1 race ban

Pierre Gasly admits that the 10 penalty points accrued by him, which leaves him 2 points away from a race ban, is a very unpleasant situation. The French driver is not generally associated with dangerous driving, but the regularly accrued penalty points for minor incidents in the last year have put him in a sticky situation. Talking to the media during the Sao Paulo Pre-Race Drivers Press conference. Pierre Gasly revealed that he did find the situation a bit unpleasant. He said,

“I’m not going to lie, it’s a very unpleasant situation and quite delicate, and in some ways also a bit embarrassing to be standing in a position where I could be banned for a race after the season that I’ve done. I don’t really feel like I’ve been particularly dangerous over these last 12 months and that would be definitely a harsh penalty."

Pierre Gasly revealed that there had been discussions with the FIA as he tried to find a solution. He also talked about how he did not want to end up in a situation where he could be forced to miss a race. He said,

“But there have been a lot of discussions with the FIA trying to find a solution because, personally, I want to do all the races, I want to finish the season in the best way I can with AlphaTauri, I want to do all the races in 2023 and get the maximum chances to perform for Alpine. And obviously, there is a lot at stake because no one knows what’s going to happen in ’23. I could end up with an amazing car fighting for the championship for example and can’t take the risk to be banned for a race and lose all my hopes for the championship. So it’s a very tricky situation.

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I've been discussing quite a lot with the FIA: Pierre Gasly

Pierre Gasly did reveal that he had been discussing the situation a lot with the FIA. The French driver also termed a few of the penalties quite harsh. He said,

“I’ve been discussing quite a lot with the FIA to try to find solutions because the way the regulation is written at the moment, it’s quite strict on the drivers and quite harsh penalties, even though it’s not always then related to dangerous driving and, definitely, the penalty has massive repercussions on the team and Drivers’ Championships. So I do hope we’re going to have more conversations today, but I do hope we can find a solution ahead of the weekend to avoid to end up in a silly situation where I’ll be banned for a race."

The penalty points system has existed for a long time, but we haven't seen any F1 driver accrue 12 points in a calendar year. Will Pierre Gasly be the first? It'll be worth trying to find out.