"He is absolutely not a dangerous driver" - Pierre Gasly's former boss 'shocked' by his F1 penalty points situation

During the 2022 F1 season, Pierre Gasly was given the most number of penalty points for several offenses. He currently sits on 10 penalty points and will be trying to avoid two more which will disqualify him from a race in the 2023 F1 season.

Despite having several penalty points, Franz Tost, Gasly's former team boss at AlphaTauri, defended the Frenchman.

Speaking to GPFans, the AlphaTauri team principal spoke about how Pierre Gasly was slightly unlucky with several penalties that were imposed against him. The Austrian also mentioned the 2022 F1 Japanese GP, where Gasly came dangerously close to crashing into a tractor that was removing Carlos Sainz's crashed Ferrari. Franz Tost said:

“He is absolutely not a dangerous driver. He was a little bit unlucky to come into this situation. Starting with Suzuka, of course, the driver is shocked. He lost his very good friend just a few years earlier with an accident, also with a tractor out on the race track, then the bad weather conditions – everything came together."

Franz Tost also expressed his shock when the team gradually saw Pierre Gasly gathering penalty points. He praised the Frenchman and his skills in overviewing the race and not driving aggresively. Tost said:

“Pierre, normally, is a driver who has a very good overview, who does not risk so much, who’s not a dangerous driver in absolutely any way. Therefore, I was personally shocked that within a few races, we came to this strange position, just two points away from a race penalty. Unbelievable for a driver who really takes care and who is not aggressive.”

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Pierre Gasly's penalty in 2022 F1 Japanese GP justified by former F1 driver

During the 2022 F1 Japanese GP, Pierre Gasly nearly ran into a huge accident as he avoided a tractor present on the track, removing Carlos Sainz's crashed Ferrari. Though this may seem like an outrageous blunder by the stewards, the Frenchman was handed two penalty points on his super license after the incident.

Many fans and the driver himself were angry towards the stewards and race directors. However, former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher explained and justified the penalty points given to Pierre Gasly. He explained:

"I think the penalty for Gasly is right and understandable, because it was clearly recognisable that the race had been stopped. There is also the rule that you should drive at walking pace and be able to stop at any time – and for good reason, because there could be people on the track."

There was a lot of confusion about Pierre Gasly's situation since he came out on track from the pits during a red flag condition and was penalized for speeding. At the same time, the FIA admitted that the marshall vehicles were deployed prematurely and promised to take procedural measures to avoid incidents like this in the future.