The FIA have confirmed that Pierre Gasly has been disqualified from the qualifying session for the 2024 Azerbaijan GP. He had qualified 13th for the Grand Prix but a technical breach has resulted in the stewards penalizing him.

Scrutiny of Gasly‘s car showed that the Renault Power Unit was not functioning in accordance with the Technical Regulations. As per Article 5.2.3 of the regulations, at all times the fuel mass flow should not exceed 100kg/h.

The FIA’s technical delegate reported to the Stewards that during the final timed lap of Q2, the #10 driver’s A524’s power unit had exceeded the permitted fuel mass flow. The argument made by the team was that the excess fuel mass flow was due to a technical fault on the car and not a deliberate measure taken by them to gain an unfair advantage.

Moreover, Alpine also argued that Gasly had in fact lost time due to the issue. The stewards took note of Alpine’s protest. However, they ultimately decided to disqualify the Frenchman from the results of the session.

This was because the International Sporting Code makes it very clear that there is no scope for mitigation when there is a breach of the technical regulations. The Stewards explained,

“The usual penalty for a breach of the technical regulations is disqualification and the Stewards note that Article 1.3.3 of the International Sporting Code states, ‘If an Automobile is found not to comply with the applicable technical regulations, it shall be no defence to claim that no performance advantage was obtained’”.

The fuel mass flow dictates how much fuel can be burned by the combustion engine inside an F1 car. The rate is capped to restrict teams from burning more fuel for a short-term boost, especially during qualifying. In essence, an F1 engine is only allowed to use 27.8 grams per second.