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Liam Lawson and Pierre Gasly will both start the Canadian Grand Prix from the pit lane after their teams made component changes that breached Parc Ferme regulations, dealing a blow to their already challenging weekends in Montreal.
Engine and component overhauls trigger penalties
Initially slated to start from the back row after a frustrating qualifying session, both drivers were hit with further setbacks late Saturday. Lawson’s Racing Bulls team opted for a full power unit refresh, installing a new internal combustion engine, turbocharger, MGU-H, MGU-K, energy store, control electronics, and exhaust system.
Meanwhile, Gasly’s Alpine A525 was fitted with a new energy store and control electronics, also resulting in a pit lane penalty.
The strategic changes were necessary due to underwhelming performances in qualifying but come at a steep cost, particularly for Lawson, whose shot at points has grown even slimmer.
Lawson reflects on tyre struggles and missed opportunities
The 22-year-old Kiwi has endured a tough return to Formula 1. After being sidelined by Red Bull just two race weekends in, he now finds himself heavily outscored 21-4 by teammate Isack Hadjar. Speaking after qualifying, Lawson detailed what went wrong:
We've been struggling to make the tyres work on the first lap all weekend. We committed to doing a build lap at the start of Q1 to keep them in the right window, however we didn't do a build lap for the last run.
This meant we didn't have much grip through the lap, which is a shame as the car has been fast all weekend. I really enjoy the track and, as always, will be giving it my all tomorrow. We keep pushing.
Gasly dejected after team-mate interference in Qualifying
Gasly’s Saturday was marred by an incident involving his own teammate, Franco Colapinto, which left him at the bottom of the time sheets.
It’s a painful one to take to be out in Q1, especially as the car had pace and potential for more today, said Gasly. We were on course for the top ten in Q1 before the red flag came out, so we had to abort our lap, which was looking quite strong and safely through.
On the final set of Softs, we were just not in the right tyre temperature window and we struggled for grip... We will see what we can do better and also look into our options on strategy tomorrow.
The Canadian Grand Prix will take place on Sunday June 15th. The main race will start at 12:30 p.m. ET.
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