Explained: Pierre Gasly’s 50-place F1 British GP grid penalty

Pierre Gasly was hit with a staggering 50-place grid penalty for the F1 British Grand Prix.

The Alpine driver was been punished with five separate 10-place grid penalties.

Gasly had exceeded his annual allocation of power unit components, resulting in the penalty for Silverstone.

He was due to start at the back of the starting grid for the race, with Sergio Perez to start from the pitlane. 

But a last-gasp issue with Gasly's car meant he went into the pits, leaving just 18 cars on the starting grid. Gasly did not even get started, his race going from bad to worse.

Gasly's penalty was because he breached his limit of four by taking on a new Internal Combustion Engine (ICE), Turbocharger (TC), Motor Generator Unit-Heat (MGU-H) and Motor Generator Unit-Kinetic (MGU-K) for the British Grand Prix.

A 10-place grid penalty was imposed for each of those five components.

Gasly’s huge penalty brings back memories of Jenson Button in Mexico nine years ago.

McLaren driver Button had a 70-place grid penalty imposed - the result of five separate penalties, all relating to his engine.

Separately, McLaren were hit with a combined 55-place grid penalty for their two drivers in Belgium in 2015.

Button was handed a 25-place drop for four separate engine rule-breaks. Teammate Fernando Alonso was demoted 30 places for a similar series of offences.

Gasly, who has signed a new deal to pledge his future to Alpine, has scored points at the past four grands prix.

But after incurring a 50-place penalty at the British Grand Prix, he was out with a suspected gear box issue as the starting grid was taking shape.