Canadian Grand Prix: Gasly and Lawson start from the pitlane
Pierre Gasly and Liam Lawson will start the Canadian Grand Prix from the pitlane after their teams modified their single-seaters out of Parc Fermé conditions. Both drivers were eliminated from Q1 in Saturday's qualifying, finishing 20th and 19th on the grid respectively.
Pierre Gasly and Liam Lawson will not start the Canadian Grand Prix from the grid. Both drivers have been relegated to the pit lane after their respective teams made modifications to their cars, thus taking the vehicles out of the Parc Fermé conditions.
Things started poorly for the two men right from Saturday night’s qualifying in Montreal. Gasly, at the wheel of his Alpine, was eliminated in Q1 and finished the session in 20th and last position. Lawson didn’t do any better with his Racing Bulls, finishing 19th and also being eliminated in the first segment.
Complicated qualifying rounds
The qualifications revealed the difficulties of both teams in the hierarchy. Gasly never found the necessary rhythm to escape the red zone during Q1, while his teammate Franco Colapinto managed to qualify for Q2 by finishing tenth in the first segment.
For Lawson, the situation was similar. The New Zealander saw his teammate Isack Hadjar perform better by reaching Q3, even though the Frenchman will eventually incur a three-place grid penalty for impeding Carlos Sainz during qualifying. Hadjar, who had finished ninth, will therefore start from twelfth place.
The pole position went to George Russell, ahead of Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri, in a session marked by several incidents, including the flying off of Alex Albon’s engine cover.
Alpine takes Gasly out of Parc Fermé
Facing this disappointing performance, Alpine has decided to change the configuration of Gasly’s car. The French team announced this decision in a statement on Instagram: « Pierre will start today’s Canadian Grand Prix from the pit lane after the team took his car out of the Parc Fermé conditions. »
This strategy may seem logical given the initial starting position of the French driver. Starting 20th or from the pit lane doesn’t fundamentally change the chances of scoring points, but it allows the team to optimize the car’s setup for the race.
Parc Fermé, which literally means “Closed Park” in French, refers to the period during which cars can no longer be modified beyond certain parameters during a Grand Prix weekend. By taking the car out of these conditions, Alpine knew it was risking a start from the pit lane for its driver.
Racing Bulls does the same with Lawson
Racing Bulls adopted a similar approach with Lawson, but for different reasons. The Austrian team made more significant changes to the New Zealand driver’s car, particularly in the power unit.
According to the FIA technical report, Lawson will use several new components for the remainder of the competition. The 23-year-old driver will be entitled to a fifth internal combustion engine, exceeding the allowed allocation of four units per season. The same applies to the turbocharger and the MGU-H (Motor Generator Unit-Heat), both of which are his fifth of the season.
The internal combustion engine used by Liam Lawson is the fifth of the four new internal combustion engines allowed for the 2025 championship season and this does not comply with Article 28.2 of the 2025 Formula 1 Sporting Regulations, specifies the official FIA document.
The energy store and electronic control systems are also third examples, exceeding the allocation of two units per season. These changes are accompanied by modifications to the suspension of its Racing Bulls.
These technical modifications, carried out without the approval of the FIA technical delegate, contravene Article 40.3 of the sporting regulations. As a result, both cars must start from the pit lane in accordance with Article 40.9 a) of the regulations.
