Gasly Slams FIA Over Mexico Penalty, Calls for Fair Rules

Pierre Gasly has called on the FIA to use his Mexico City Grand Prix penalty as a baseline for consistent stewarding decisions in the future.

The Alpine driver accepted a post-race 30-second time penalty — converted from a stop-go penalty — for failing to slow sufficiently under double-waved yellow flags.

He finished 10th on the road at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on Sunday, but the sanction dropped him to 17th in the final classification.

Gasly took full responsibility for the infringement.

“I’ve always pushed myself to be strict on these yellow flags because it’s safety-related, so that’s why I’m not gonna even argue the penalty because in that situation it was really safe,” he said.

“Lindblad’s car was completely to the right. I could see where it was. But nonetheless, if you have a yellow flag in Monaco, in Vegas, these types of tracks, we should always slow down, and that’s why, to me, I was wrong, and there is no arguing about it.”

The incident occurred late in the race when Arvid Lindblad crashed into the barriers after contact with Oscar Piastri.

Double-waved yellow flags were displayed as Gasly and his teammate Franco Colapinto approached the scene.

Gasly was deemed not to have slowed enough through the affected zone.

Colapinto, who was ahead of Gasly, also received a penalty — but only single-waved yellows were shown for him, so he was handed a 10-second time penalty instead of a stop-go.

Both drivers dropped out of the points.

Gasly explained what he saw from the cockpit.

“Ultimately, I didn’t slow down enough, so you know, I take full responsibility for the penalty,” he said.

“I think the circumstances of it wasn’t very easy because the crash happened right in front of us. So I think the double yellow was right as I was at the apex of T1, and I didn’t really go back on throttle, which made me slow down, and obviously, to me, took some actions.

“Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough for the stewards to be comfortable with it. So yeah, not great.”

Gasly also noted that the flag panels at Turn 3 were inconsistent.

“There was a panel in Turn 3 which showed green, yellow, green, yellow, so the panel didn’t quite work, so it was not straightforward,” he said.

“But at the end of the day, it is just annoying that it cost points to the team.”

Despite accepting the penalty, Gasly wants the FIA to apply the same standard to every driver going forward.

“But the question of consistency, I think, to me, it’s quite clear what needs to be done and what I haven’t done,” he said.

“Now we’ve got a good example of what’s not tolerated in a race condition, and I just expect the same for any other driver going forward.”

The double-waved yellow flag rule is a safety regulation that requires drivers to slow down significantly and be prepared to stop if necessary.

A single-waved yellow flag means drivers must reduce speed and not overtake, but they are not required to be ready to stop.

The distinction between the two flag conditions is critical in stewarding decisions.

Gasly’s stop-go penalty was converted to a 30-second time penalty because the race had already ended when the stewards made their ruling.

Under FIA regulations, a stop-go penalty cannot be served after the race, so it is converted to a time penalty.

Two penalty points were also added to Gasly’s super license.

Accumulating 12 penalty points within a 12-month period triggers an automatic one-race ban.

Gasly now has 10 penalty points on his license, according to FIA records.

He is two points away from a ban.

The French driver also faced an early-morning drug test ahead of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

He was woken at 6:00 a.m. by WADA officials for a random doping control.

“I got woken up at 06:00 for a doping test this morning, so I’m not in the best mood,” Gasly told media including Motorsport Week.

“It was a bad night, but I love this place. It’s the only track where I’ve had two F1 podiums, my first in 2019 and then in 2024 in the rain. And Sunday looks like it is going to rain, so I am very excited.”

Gasly has two podium finishes at Interlagos — his first Formula 1 podium in 2019 driving for Red Bull’s junior team, and a second-place finish in the wet 2024 race.

The Sao Paulo Grand Prix is the closest thing to a home race for his teammate Colapinto, who is Argentine.

Gasly was asked about the passionate support surrounding Colapinto and whether it affected him.

He responded with a reference to his time under Red Bull’s former motorsport adviser Helmut Marko.

“You know what? Once you deal with Helmut Marko, anything else is no pressure,” Gasly said.

“I mean, I know what I gotta do as my job and I focus on that and I think generally it’s the beauty of F1 and I get actually quite good energy in these type of moments.”

Gasly progressed through Red Bull’s driver program and raced for both its junior and senior teams before joining Alpine.