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Why Verstappen-Bottas’ Grid Penalties Would be an Ironical Situation for Gasly

Published 11/21/2021, 3:52 AM EST

Yesterday’s qualifying session saw Lewis Hamilton take pole position, but there was more drama that followed at the Qatar Grand Prix. While AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly was trying to set a lap time, he suffered a puncture. Yellow flags were given, but Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas failed to slow down.

They’ve been summoned by the stewards for the same, and if they do get penalties, this would see Gasly start from second on the grid, instead of fourth. Additionally, it would be ironic, as it was Gasly who caused the yellow flags due to his puncture in the qualifying session.

An ironic turn of events caused by Pierre Gasly at the Qatar Grand Prix

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Verstappen, Bottas, and Gasly all made it into the final round of qualifying at this weekend’s Qatar GP. Hamilton stole the sh0w by setting the fastest lap of the session. His Mercedes teammate and his rival from Red Bull were aiming to beat the Knight for pole position, but failed to do so.

Instead, Bottas had to settle for third, and Max had to settle for second. However, things get worse, as Gasly’s puncture caused yellow flags, and both, Valtteri and Max failed to abide by the rules.

This means that they could be served with a grid penalty. This means Gasly could start Sunday’s race in second, ironically this was all caused by Pierre’s puncture.

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What did Gasly have to say about his qualifying session?

The French driver was impressive throughout all the sessions and even had an excellent pace in the qualifying session on Saturday. But he suffered a horrible puncture that stole his hopes of getting a top-3 finish.

He said, “It’s a shame, the [second] lap was coming amazingly. We finished P4, but I was another tenth and a half faster in my last lap.”

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“To be honest, I don’t know what happened. I exited on the kerb and the whole front wing went under the car, blew the whole front right tyre and that was it. Unexpected fireworks coming out of the car, but what is most important is the whole qualifying was amazing, and to finish behind the top two teams is just amazing.”

With Gasly starting Sunday’s race in fourth place, do you think he has shot at a podium finish? Let us know your predictions for the AlphaTauri driver in the comments below.

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Arpit Gomes is an F1 author at EssentiallySports. Currently pursuing his Journalism degree from Xavier’s Institute, he is a big fan of McLaren and their driver Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo. Arpit always looks forward to the paddock moving to Spa and drivers dealing with the exciting Eau Rouge corner as well the straight at Monza.

Why Verstappen-Bottas’ Grid Penalties Would be an Ironical Situation for Gasly

An ironic turn of events caused by Pierre Gasly at the Qatar Grand Prix

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What did Gasly have to say about his qualifying session?