FIA hands out 10-place grid penalty to driver after power unit infringement

The Canadian, who had qualified in 21st place for the race, was handed a penalty after the Aston Martin team changed several elements of the power unit of his car under parc fermé conditions. Specifically, the British green outfit changed a 5th Energy Store (ES) and 5th Control Electronics Unit (PU-CE) in the power unit of Stroll’s car, which has since translated into the penalty for the 27-year-old.

According to the FIA verdict on the incident, the changes made to Stroll’s car were in breach of Articles B8.2.2 (read with B8.2.3) of the FIA F1 Regulations. Hence, the decision was made to hand him a 10-place grid drop for the next race in which the driver participates.

The penalty is imposed in accordance with Article B8.2.8 of the FIA F1 Regulations. The use of each additional element in this case carries a five-place grid penalty; therefore, there is an accumulation of 10 places.

Earlier, the FIA also came down hard on Pierre Gasly, handing him a three-place grid penalty for Sunday’s British Grand Prix after finding him guilty of impeding Stroll during qualifying.

The stewards accepted that Gasly had been left without the usual radio warning because of a technical issue with the FOM equipment, a point that was confirmed during the hearing. They also took into account that he had been carrying out radio checks and believed the car behind was not on a timed lap.

Despite those mitigating circumstances, the stewards ruled that the lack of a radio warning did not remove the driver’s responsibility to avoid impeding another car. After reviewing the available evidence, including the dashboard information available to Gasly, they concluded that he had unnecessarily impeded Stroll and imposed the standard three-place grid penalty.