‘Quite scary’ - Pierre Gasly explains botched pit stop as Alpine mechanic hit

Pierre Gasly has explained the “quite scary” moment he knocked over one of his Alpine mechanics during a botched pit stop at the F1 Chinese Grand Prix.

During the Frenchman’s first pit stop in Shanghai, Gasly was mistakenly given a green light to leave his box before his right-rear wheel had been properly attached to his car.

As he pulled away, one of his mechanics was sent tumbling to the ground by the tyre.

Alpine confirmed after the race that the mechanic was “OK” and had avoided injury.

Alpine were fined €10,000 for the unsafe release after the stewards determined the team were “wholly responsible” for the incident.

“Yeah, quite scary, actually,” Gasly said as he reflected on the pit stop. “The light went green so I dropped the clutch, but then it went red straightaway.

“And then I saw him in the mirror, and saw the wheel wasn’t on. The mechanic is fine, which I was a bit scared of.

“We’ve had a couple of instances this year where I’ve lost some time on the box, so I’m sure we’ll review exactly what’s happened and improve it for next time.”

Gasly went on to finish the race in 13th, two places behind Esteban Ocon who narrowly missed out on scoring Alpine’s first points of the season.

Ocon was running Alpine’s upgraded and lighter chassis in China, which Gasly is due to receive at the next race in Miami.

“It’s just a couple of kilos lighter and then just more aero, more points of downforce all around,” Gasly said of the difference between the two Alpine cars.

“It’s most important that is working, we saw that from the first session.

“I was a bit impatient to get it but from Miami onwards I’ll be on that package.

“And we’ll keep working because I still want more than what we were seeing so we still need to find more performance.”