- Liam Lawson escapes penalty after terrifying flip with Pierre Gasly.
- Stewards confirm gearbox failure caused Lawson’s collision with Gasly.
- Pierre Gasly unhurt following scary high-speed flip in Miami crash.
Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) and Pierre Gasly (Alpine) were involved in a pretty bad collision, which led to the latter’s car flipping over and both of them having to retire from the Miami Grand Prix. The incident was investigated by the stewards later, and Lawson wasn’t handed any penalty as he was at no fault.
The collision happened on Lap 5, when Gasly was attempting to overtake Lawson, as they headed to the Turn 17 hairpin. This led to their contact, which threw Gasly into the barriers partly, after a harsh flip. Both drivers were thankfully fine after this incident and suffered no injuries. The safety car was deployed as the marshals took away the damaged Alpine.
The stewards’ verdict on the Lawson and Gasly’s harsh collision
According to the FIA document, it states that Lawson (Car 30) explained that just before his car collided with Gasly, he suffered a gearbox failure. After thoroughly reviewing the in-car data and telemetry, the Stewards also found Lawson’s justification to be valid and true. They also noticed that the gearbox problem was communicated consistently over the radio.
Clearing Lawson off the incident with no penalties, the stewards further stated, “We therefore accept the driver’s explanation that this was a failure of a mechanical part in the car and that there was nothing that he could do to avoid the collision. We also considered whether the driver of Car 30 had the ability to anticipate the failure of the gearbox and decided that it would not have been possible for him to do so.” There was no action taken as the stewards concluded that the incident happened due to a mechanical failure and not due to a driver error.
Gasly reflects on the crash and provides a health update
In a conversation with RacingNews365, Gasly reassured everyone that he’s fine, deeming the crash as “scary” as he was up in the air without any control over the car.
Detailing the events further, he added, “I [hit] the wall rear-end first. I didn’t even know where I was going to land. So it wasn’t pleasant. I knew he was there, I knew we were side by side. Unfortunately, we’d probably just have to accept losing the position. But I knew he would still try, so that’s why I left the space, a car and a half on the inside.”
He claimed that he left the space to give Lawson the choice to stay where he is if he wanted. Moreover, he revealed that he didn’t see the footage yet but believes it was “too optimistic” move on the turn 17 hairpin.
