Five drivers, including second-place runner Lewis Hamilton and championship contender George Russell, were given five-second time penalties for speeding in the pitlane.
Gasly, Oscar Piastri and Franco Colapinto were the other three drivers, Gasly also received a second penalty for speeding again while racing from the pitlane behind the safety car after a crash for Lance Stroll at the final corner.
This came as four drivers received speed penalties of 0.5 km/h or less in practice: Russell again, but also Kimi Antonelli, Alex Albon and Fernando Alonso.
Albon was warned late in the Grand Prix that several drivers were receiving penalties and it was related to “cutting the line around the Cadillac area”.
Cadillac is located at the end of the pitlane, which is a little more open than it was this year, when it was more tightly funneled by barriers on either side.
This seems to invite drivers to cut across the white line denoting the fast lane – which is done here at both ends of the pits.
This is permitted from a regulatory perspective, but it can create an unusual problem: in F1 the car’s speed in the pitlane is measured using electronic timing loops and FIA transponders rather than cameras or guns.
The car will go through a series of loops in the pitlane and the system then calculates its speed based on the time taken to cover that distance.
Since the fast lane is used to calculate pitlane distance, even a slightly aggressive cut of the line will shorten it.
So a car traveling at exactly 60 km/h will cover the distance slightly sooner depending on how the distance is measured, and will be very fractionally over the speed limit – so small margins appear in practice.
It is understood this was discussed between the teams and the FIA during the weekend and some drivers were also warned to be careful of their position down the pitlane before the race.
In the race, the penalties had a significant impact on the top 10 standings – particularly Russell, who was running fourth, but failed to complete his penalty correctly at the double-stacked Mercedes stop under the safety car, and was therefore awarded a drive-through penalty.
He delivered after a late restart, leading the field and finishing in 13th place.
Russell said Mercedes had told him “I haven’t done anything wrong” and that there was a “software problem”.
Gasly’s two penalties also hurt him badly as the Alpine driver finished third on the road, but the extra 10 seconds saw him drop to seventh, losing his podium finish.
Gasly, who was almost dejected after the race, was 0.1 km/h and 0.4 km/h over the 60 km/h limit in his two offences.
He indicated after the race that Alpine would speak to the FIA on the issue.
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