Franz Tost has defended Pierre Gasly after the Frenchman picked up ten penalty points during the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season, with the Scuderia AlphaTauri Team Principal insisting the Frenchman is far from a dangerous driver.
A driver will automatically be banned from a Grand Prix should they acquire twelve penalty points, and Gasly is only two points away from that, with none of those points dropping off until after the sixth round of the 2023 season.
Only five of Gasly’s points were on-track clashes with other drivers, with two for a clash with Lance Stroll in Spain, another for forcing the same driver off track in Mexico City, and two for a collision with Sebastian Vettel in Austria.
He earned two more for speeding under a red flag during the Japanese Grand Prix, two for failing to stay within ten car lengths of the car in front during the United States Grand Prix, and one more for track limit offences in Austria.
However, Tost insists his former driver – the Frenchman will move to the BWT Alpine F1 Team in 2023 – is not at all dangerous and it is with shock that he is as close to a race ban as he is. He was particularly critical of the penalty points handed to Gasly in Japan, the circuit where Jules Bianchi – a friend of Gasly – lost his life in an accident in 2014, feeling the penalty was unjustified.
“He is absolutely not a dangerous driver,” said Tost to GPFans. “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.
“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.”