Pierre Gasly penalty overturned as track action gets underway in Barcelona – F1 news round-up
The result of Pierre Gasly’s appeal was the big news of the day.
With track action getting underway in Barcelona, we’re bringing you all the news you may have missed.
Friday saw the first track action of the Barcelona Grand Prix weekend but the biggest story of the day was actually to do with last weekend’s race.
Pierre Gasly restored to Monaco GP podium
The big news of the day was to do with the Monaco Grand Prix after the stewards determined that Pierre Gasly had incorrectly had two penalties awarded to him.
After it was revealed a key measurement was wrong for measuring speeds in the pit lane, the stewards reversed his two five-second penalties, seeing him rise back up to the podium at the expense of Isack Hadjar.
It has though opened a can of worms.
Before that, you can read more about Gasly’s decision here.
Rivals considering appeals over Alpine verdict
It would not be F1 if some obscure rules were being argued over.
In their decision, the stewards said the other teams could not appeal the same issue as they had missed the deadline.
PlanetF1.com understands both Red Bull and McLaren would appeal against the verdict after their drivers were also punished.
Toto Wolff says Mercedes exploring legal options
The Alpine news broke only a few hours before three of the team representatives were scheduled for the routine FIA press conference, one of which was Toto Wolff.
His driver George Russell was given a drive-through penalty after he failed to serve his speeding penalty and Wolff said he had consulted with the team’s lawyers about possible “remedies.”
“I just left when we were on the phone with our lawyers to look at what can we do,” he said.
“For George, drive through, if it didn’t happen at the end, is equivalent of 20 seconds race time. What would 20 seconds race time have meant for his result?
“Do we think that we realistically have a position, a chance of reverting the result? I don’t think so, but we definitely have to give it a go if we see that there is a millimetre of chance to do so and bring him back to whatever it was before.”
Read more of what Wolff had to say here.
Track action gets underway
Away from Alpine, track action began in Barcelona.
In a session full of rookies, Russell was the fastest man on track while Lando Norris topped the times in FP2.
You can read the report of FP1 here and then the report of FP2 here.
Ferrari reveal upgrades
A grand prix weekend means new upgrades and when the FIA list dropped, it was Ferrari who caught attention.
Ferrari has arrived in Barcelona with an extensive upgrade package, introducing eight new components as it looks to close the gap at the front of the Formula 1 field.
You can read what they, and the rest of the grid, has brought to this weekend right here.
