Source – RacingNews365
The stewards found that Pierre Gasly’s car had over the fuel flow restriction, and as a result, he was disqualified from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying results.
Pierre Gasly’s rollercoaster weekend in Baku took a dramatic turn for the worse after a strong qualifying performance was wiped out by a disqualification. Following a challenging trio of practice sessions where the Alpine driver struggled, finishing 18th in both FP1 and FP2, and slightly better in FP3 with 15th, Gasly found his rhythm when it mattered most. He started qualifying on the Baku City Circuit with a surprising burst of pace, climbing as high as fourth in Q1 and safely advancing to Q2. His lap time in Q2 was good enough for 13th on the grid, comfortably ahead of rivals like Nico Hulkenberg of Haas and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.
However, just as Gasly and Alpine began to breathe easy, their fortunes took a dramatic nosedive. Shortly after the session, the team was summoned by the stewards over an alleged breach of Article 5.2.3 of the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations. The issue in question? An exceedance of the instantaneous fuel mass flow limit, a rule that restricts the amount of fuel a car can burn at any given moment during a lap. The breach was confirmed, and despite Alpine’s explanations, the stewards had no choice but to disqualify Gasly from qualifying, sending him to the back of the grid for Sunday’s race.
The stewards’ report detailed how the instantaneous fuel mass flow of Gasly’s Alpine exceeded the permitted 100kg/h limit on his final lap in Q2. Alpine’s representatives explained that an unexpected, short-duration technical fault had caused the fuel flow to spike briefly. They argued that the glitch resulted in a slower lap time and did not provide Gasly with any performance advantage. Despite their plea for leniency, the FIA’s technical staff confirmed that the breach had occurred, and Gasly’s disqualification was inevitable.
In their defense, Alpine pointed out that fuel flow breaches are extremely rare, and that this was not a calculated part of their strategy. They emphasized that the fault was purely technical and argued that it should be taken into account as a mitigating factor. Despite these arguments, the stewards ruled that the standard penalty for a breach of technical regulations—disqualification—would still apply.
Gasly’s disqualification means he joins Kick Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu at the back of the grid, with Zhou having received his own penalty for exceeding his power unit component allowance earlier in the weekend. This adds to what has been a particularly difficult season for the Alpine team, which has struggled to find consistency in the highly competitive midfield battle.
Gasly is not the first driver to face the harsh consequences of a technical breach in the 2024 season. Earlier this year, Alex Albon was disqualified from qualifying at Zandvoort due to an illegal Williams floor, while Haas teammates Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen were both excluded from qualifying in Monaco over irregularities with their Drag Reduction System (DRS).
For Gasly and Alpine, this latest setback only adds to the mounting frustration of a season where potential has often been squandered by technical missteps and bad luck. Now, Gasly will face the daunting task of trying to salvage something from the race, starting from the very back of the grid. While the team’s pace showed signs of improvement, they will need to rely on strategy and perhaps a bit of luck to claw their way back into contention.
As the sun sets on what could have been a promising weekend for Gasly, the disqualification serves as a reminder of just how unforgiving Formula 1 can be. Even the smallest technical breach can undo hours of hard work, leaving drivers and teams to wonder what might have been.
