Pierre Gasly believes avoiding a spinning Max Verstappen on lap one of the Miami Grand Prix cost him as many as six positions.

The Alpine driver made a good start from his P9 grid spot but soon had to slam on the brakes when the sight of a Red Bull rear wing came quickly into view.

Pierre Gasly reflects on Max Verstappen near miss

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Verstappen’s frantic start, which saw him spin out of Turn 2, had a wide-ranging knock-on effect for the grid as the Dutchman was planted in the middle of the track, but thanks to the skill of those around him, the Red Bull driver avoided any contact.

And while that was lucky for him, it was unlucky for Gasly, who was one of the first to arrive on the scene and crucially had Lewis Hamilton on his right and George Russell on his left, meaning his only option was to brake hard and lose positions.

Speaking after the race, which later saw him flipped into the barrier after contact with Liam Lawson, Gasly suggested the braking had cost him up to six spots on the grid.

“Honestly, it was one of those situations where I took a really good start, and if I had a worse start, I would have actually got out of lap one in a better position,” he told media including PlanetF1.com.

“So it was quite unfortunate, quite unlucky timing. [To] exit turn one, [position] seven, or maybe close to six and then I see him coming back, and I had to hit the brake to avoid him, because obviously it was extremely slow.

“Then I just got swallowed by the whole bunch of cars behind me. So I think we lost five, six positions there.”

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Gasly did, though, say he was not “too worried”, as he believed he had the pace to catch back up but rued the “big missed opportunity” due to the Lawson crash.

The Racing Bulls driver avoided a penalty after the stewards deemed a gearbox failure to be the cause of the incident but Gasly, speaking before the stewards’ verdict was revealed, felt it was a clean move.

“I knew he was there,” he said, “I knew [we were] side by side.

“I knew at that time, fortunately, he probably had to just accept losing the position, but I knew he’d still try, so that’s why I left the space for a car and a half on the inside, just for him, at least, to have the choice to stay there if he really wanted.

“But I haven’t seen exactly the footage, but clearly it was too optimistic from me.”

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