Pierre Gasly earned the dubious honor for the most striking retirement during a chaotic Miami GP. His Alpine was unfortunately tapped by Liam Lawson’s Racing Bull in the sixth lap, after which the car – albeit relatively slowly – flipped over into the tire barrier. It later turned out that Lawson was not at fault for the incident, although Gasly did emphasize the seriousness of the situation: “This should not have happened.”
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“The start was actually great,” a defeated Gasly reflected to the media in Miami. “After the first corner, I was sixth or seventh. Then I saw Max (Verstappen, ed.) make a mistake and thought I could gain even more positions. But because he managed to catch that spin, I actually lost five or six places. So yes, that was just badly timed. Nevertheless, I wasn’t too worried – I knew that with our pace we could easily finish in the points. Until that incident, which was quite frightening.”
Lawson is not to blame
“At this moment, I am mostly disappointed,” Gasly responded to the crash. “Yes, it was a shock, because you never know what happens once you’re in the air. But I’m glad I’m okay. I braked a bit later (than Lawson, ed.), but I did give him space so that we would both make the corner. I don’t know if he locked up or something like that, but he hit me, and suddenly I was upside down.” The Frenchman did not want to immediately point a finger, but made clear that such an accident is preventable. “It should not have happened, that’s clear. It’s just frustrating. Right now, disappointment prevails, also because we couldn’t score points, while we deserved to.”
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It later emerged that Lawson was not at fault for the incident. At the stewards, he explained that he was dealing with a technical problem: his gearbox failed during braking. The FIA accepted this explanation, so no further sanctions were imposed.
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