Alpine was fined after an unusual incident involving Pierre Gasly before the Chinese Grand Prix sprint. An element that remained attached to the car came loose on track.
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The Alpine F1 Team was sanctioned with a 5.000 euro fine after an incident involving Pierre Gasly before the sprint held at the Shanghai circuit.
The problem occurred during the reconnaissance lap preceding the grid formation. As the French driver left the team’s garage to join the track, a protective element remained attached to his car.
A few moments later, this cover intended to protect the car’s antennas detached and ended up on the track. This incident immediately caught the attention of the stewards, who opened an investigation to determine if the car had been released in a dangerous manner by the team.
An antenna cover forgotten on the car
After analyzing video footage and items recovered from the track, the stewards quickly identified the source of the problem. Gasly’s car had left the garage with a protective cover still installed on the antenna system.
In their report, the officials detailed the sequence of events: “Car No. 10 left its garage to perform reconnaissance laps with a protective cover covering the antennas still attached.”
This device, intended to protect sensors and antennas when the car is stationary, must normally be removed before entering the track.
“The car entered the track with this cover still attached and it detached while the car was running,” the stewards specified.
The item was then recovered by track marshals and handed over to officials for inspection.
Gasly hadn’t noticed anything
For his part, Pierre Gasly explained that he had absolutely not noticed the presence of this element on his car.
According to the French driver, his visibility was partially obscured by the halo, which prevented him from seeing the cover installed in front of him.
“The driver explained that his line of sight to the antenna cover was obscured by the halo and that he had no idea of its presence until he saw something fly off the car.”
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Gasly stated that he immediately reported the incident to his team once the object detached.
Alpine admits its mistake
The Alpine team representative admitted that this situation resulted from an error in the preparation of the car before the reconnaissance laps.
The team was then trying to resolve a radio communication problem, which reportedly contributed to the confusion in the garage.
“The team explained that they were trying to resolve communication issues during the preparation of the car for the reconnaissance laps, and that the fact that the antenna cover had not been removed went unnoticed.”
According to the team, the problem was only noticed once the car was in the fast lane of the pits.
The engineers then estimated that the cover would likely remain in place until the starting grid, as it was securely fixed around two antennas. An assumption that proved to be incorrect.
A fine for dangerous release
The stewards ultimately determined that the team had released the car in a dangerous condition.
Even if the object was neither particularly heavy nor bulky, it could have posed a risk to other drivers if it had hit a car or a driver.
Officials therefore imposed a 5.000 euro fine on Alpine for allowing the car to leave the pits in an unsafe configuration.
Sportingly, however, this incident had no direct impact on Gasly’s race, as he finished the Chinese Grand Prix sprint in eleventh place, just outside the points.
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