Pierre Gasly avoids a one-race ban after collision with teammate Esteban Ocon

Alpine endured a brutal end to the 2023 Australian Grand Prix.

But it could have actually been much worse, particularly for Pierre Gasly.

In the closing laps of Sunday’s Formula 1 race in Melbourne, both Gasly and teammate Esteban Ocon were inside the top ten, on the cusp of notching double points for the second time this season. But when the race restarted after a red flag, a collision between Carlos Sainz Jr. and Fernando Alonso touched off a chain reaction that saw the two teammates come together and crash out of the Grand Prix.

The pair were then summoned to meet with race officials after the conclusion of the Grand Prix for an investigation into the incident.

Here is how the outcome of that meeting could have made a bad day even worse. Formula 1 drivers hold an FIA “Super License,” meaning that they have qualified to drive in F1. However, much like the rest of us, they can see points added to their Super License for on-the-track incidents.

Causing a collision, for example, can see a driver hit with two points added to their Super License.

If a driver accumulates 12 points over a calendar year, then they are hit with a one-race penalty ban.

That brings us to Gasly, who entered this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix with ten points already on his Super License. Had he been found to be at fault for the late-lap collision with Ocon, he might have seen two more additional points added to his Super License, meaning he would have been forced to miss the Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the end of the month.

However, FIA declined to enforce any penalty for the collision, referring to the collision after the restart as a “first lap incident:”

So Gasly remains in the clear, for now.

However, the Super License system works by removing points a year after the particular incident or penalty. For Gasly, that means the next points that come off his Super License are two points, that are set to expire on May 22 of this year. He received those points for causing a collision with Lance Stroll in the 2022 Spanish Grand Prix.

Unfortunately for the Alpine driver, this means he has to keep a clean slate through the next three races: The Azerbaijan Grand Prix (April 30), the Miami Grand Prix (May 7), and the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix (May 30).

Otherwise, we will see this man behind the wheel of Alpine’s A523 at an upcoming race:

F1 drivers: They’re just like us! They get points on their license when things go bad.