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The Monaco pit lane fiasco has a new chapter. McLaren has now filed a notice of intention to appeal the Monaco Grand Prix results, per broadcaster Jennie Gow, who reported the development on Friday ahead of first practice in Barcelona. The warning that came alongside the news: “don’t expect them to be the last.” The paddock is far from done with Monte Carlo.
Monaco produced a wave of pit lane speeding penalties, with five drivers penalised on a total of six occasions – the worst-affected being Gasly, who collected a pair of five-second penalties that dropped him from third at the chequered flag all the way to seventh.
Alpine‘s right of review hearing took place in Barcelona on Thursday, where the team needed to clear the bar of presenting significant new evidence – which they did, after Formula One Management revealed that the distance used to calculate pit lane speeds had been “inaccurate and overestimated the speed” Gasly was travelling at.
That was enough.
Following a subsequent full hearing on Thursday, the FIA confirmed on Friday morning that Gasly’s penalties had been rescinded and his Monaco podium was reinstated.
The revised result puts Gasly third, dropping Oscar Piastri to fifth and shifting the Racing Bulls duo of Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad to sixth and seventh.
Pit lane speeding offences rarely reach even one per race, which made Monaco’s six separate penalties all the more puzzling. Lewis Hamilton, George Russell, Franco Colapinto, and Oscar Piastri were all caught, alongside Gasly’s two infractions.
The unusual geometry of Monaco’s pit lane – where drivers effectively cut the corner on entry, shortening the measured distance – appears to have been a key factor in generating the abnormally high number of violations.
In other words, the same flawed measurement that robbed Gasly of his podium was applied to everyone else too.
Whether the remaining penalties will now be reassessed is an open question, given that Alpine was the only team to formally request a review ahead of the Barcelona weekend.
McLaren’s notice of intention to appeal changes that picture. Alpine’s right of review was specifically aimed at establishing how and why Gasly was penalised, rather than necessarily altering the broader race result – but a formal appeal from McLaren is a different instrument, and could directly target the penalty applied to Piastri.
With Gasly already back on the podium and the FOM’s own timing data now confirmed as the source of the problem, McLaren’s position isn’t a speculative one. The precedent is sitting right there in the updated Monaco results sheet. If the measurement was wrong for Gasly, the logical conclusion is that it was wrong for everyone penalised that afternoon – and McLaren appears to have reached the same conclusion.
Continue reading...
Monaco produced a wave of pit lane speeding penalties, with five drivers penalised on a total of six occasions – the worst-affected being Gasly, who collected a pair of five-second penalties that dropped him from third at the chequered flag all the way to seventh.
Alpine‘s right of review hearing took place in Barcelona on Thursday, where the team needed to clear the bar of presenting significant new evidence – which they did, after Formula One Management revealed that the distance used to calculate pit lane speeds had been “inaccurate and overestimated the speed” Gasly was travelling at.
That was enough.
Following a subsequent full hearing on Thursday, the FIA confirmed on Friday morning that Gasly’s penalties had been rescinded and his Monaco podium was reinstated.
The revised result puts Gasly third, dropping Oscar Piastri to fifth and shifting the Racing Bulls duo of Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad to sixth and seventh.
Why McLaren Has Every Reason to Follow Alpine’s Lead
Pit lane speeding offences rarely reach even one per race, which made Monaco’s six separate penalties all the more puzzling. Lewis Hamilton, George Russell, Franco Colapinto, and Oscar Piastri were all caught, alongside Gasly’s two infractions.
The unusual geometry of Monaco’s pit lane – where drivers effectively cut the corner on entry, shortening the measured distance – appears to have been a key factor in generating the abnormally high number of violations.
In other words, the same flawed measurement that robbed Gasly of his podium was applied to everyone else too.
Whether the remaining penalties will now be reassessed is an open question, given that Alpine was the only team to formally request a review ahead of the Barcelona weekend.
McLaren’s notice of intention to appeal changes that picture. Alpine’s right of review was specifically aimed at establishing how and why Gasly was penalised, rather than necessarily altering the broader race result – but a formal appeal from McLaren is a different instrument, and could directly target the penalty applied to Piastri.
With Gasly already back on the podium and the FOM’s own timing data now confirmed as the source of the problem, McLaren’s position isn’t a speculative one. The precedent is sitting right there in the updated Monaco results sheet. If the measurement was wrong for Gasly, the logical conclusion is that it was wrong for everyone penalised that afternoon – and McLaren appears to have reached the same conclusion.
Continue reading...
