GP2 leader Pierre Gasly excluded over fire extinguisher problem
GP2 championship leading Red Bull protege Pierre Gasly has been excluded from third in the Hockenheim opener due to an empty fire extinguisher
In-car footage appeared to show something leaking from the cockpit of Gasly's Prema Dallara early in the race, and a subsequent inspection found that the car's fire extinguisher was empty.
A statement from the officials said: "The stewards considered that the car did not comply with the safety equipment regulations".
Gasly had dropped from the front row to the midfield at the start of the race when his anti-stall system twice kicked in and then he ran wide while trying to regain ground.
He charged back through to third on the road, overtaking long-time leader Raffaele Marciello on the run to the line and claiming the final podium position - which now goes back to Marciello - by just 0.030 seconds.
The exclusion reduces his championship lead over race winner Sergey Sirotkin from 21 to six points.
It also means his Prema team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi will start from pole on Sunday morning as he is elevated from ninth to eighth in the feature race results, with Alex Lynn now second on the grid.
Gasly will have to start race two from 20th on the grid, ahead of only Daniel de Jong and Artem Markelov - both relegated to pitlane starts as punishments for collisions on Saturday.
REVISED RACE TWO STARTING GRID
Pos | Driver | Team |
---|---|---|
1 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Prema Racing |
2 | Alex Lynn | DAMS |
3 | Gustav Malja | Rapax |
4 | Oliver Rowland | MP Motorsport |
5 | Arthur Pic | Rapax |
6 | Raffaele Marciello | RUSSIAN TIME |
7 | Luca Ghiotto | Trident |
8 | Sergey Sirotkin | ART Grand Prix |
9 | Nobuharu Matsushita | ART Grand Prix |
10 | Marvin Kirchhofer | Carlin |
11 | Nabil Jeffri | Arden International |
12 | Jimmy Eriksson | Arden International |
13 | Rene Binder | Carlin |
14 | Nicholas Latifi | DAMS |
15 | Jordan King | Racing Engineering |
16 | Philo Paz Armand | Trident |
17 | Norman Nato | Racing Engineering |
18 | Mitch Evans | Pertamina Campos Racing |
19 | Sean Gelael | Pertamina Campos Racing |
20 | Pierre Gasly | Prema Racing |
21 | Daniel de Jong | MP Motorsport |
22 | Artem Markelov | RUSSIAN TIME |
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