Gasly urges FIA to reconsider Magnussen's ban following controversial penalty

Pierre Gasly has publicly called for the FIA to overturn the race suspension imposed on Kevin Magnussen, which is slated to take effect at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The penalty comes after a collision between Gasly and Magnussen at the Italian Grand Prix that added points to Magnussen's superlicence, surpassing the threshold for a race ban.

The incident in question occurred while both drivers were battling for position. The stewards found Magnussen "wholly to blame" for the collision, penalizing him with a 10-second in-race penalty and adding two penalty points to his superlicence. This brought Magnussen's total to 12 penalty points in the past 12 months, triggering an automatic one-race suspension per F1 regulations.

Post-race, Gasly expressed his surprise over the severity of the penalties levied against Magnussen. "Someone told me he got a 10-second penalty," Gasly commented. "I'm a bit surprised by that. Yeah, he tried, but it was a bit of wheel-to-wheel. In the end, I didn't lose any time. I'm a bit surprised."

Upon learning that Magnussen could face a race ban, Gasly was quick to voice his concerns. "I hope somehow they can revert on that, because that would be definitely unfair," said the Alpine driver. "[When you are close to a penalty] you can't approach racing properly or the way you want. I was in a similar situation, for different reasons, and it's not a nice position to be in."

Gasly even indicated his willingness to take up the issue with the race stewards. "I'd be happy to do it. I've got a drug test, so I'm going to waste an hour. After that, I'll see what I can do. That would feel very unfair for the incident that it was."

Magnussen's looming suspension has stirred a debate on the proportionality of penalties in F1, with many in the paddock sympathizing with Gasly's perspective. As the Azerbaijan Grand Prix approaches, all eyes will be on the FIA to see if they uphold the decision or take Gasly's appeal into account.

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