McLaren has formally decided it will appeal the decision to rescind Pierre Gasly’s Monaco Grand Prix time penalties, the team announced on Tuesday.The Alpine driver – along with four others – were handed time penalties for speeding in the Monaco pit lane during the race in the principality in early June. This was an unusually high number of pit lane speeding infractions, which was later revealed to be the result of discrepancy between the stated length of the pit lane and the real measurement, taken post-race.Alpine initiated Formula 1’s Right of Review appeal process in the week after the Monaco event, and the two-part hearing was held during the subsequent Barcelona-Catalunya GP. On Friday, the FIA stewards announced that they had determined the Alpine driver was not speeding in the Monaco pit lane.It was discovered that there was a 77cm discrepancy between the official timekeeper’s measurement of the distance between two timing loops in the pit lane. Alpine had also measured the area post-race.Considering that the formula for calculating pit lane speed is “the measured minimum distance between the loops,” the stewards determined Gasly was not speeding around the new measurement and they rescinded his penalties. This gave the Frenchman back his third-place finish.But they also acknowledged that this would raise questions. Some drivers, such as Oscar Piastri who was re-classified to fifth after the Gasly decision, served their penalties in-race.“There will undoubtedly remain questions as to whether those breaches were genuine,” the stewards said in their decision document.“There is no regulation that gives the stewards the power to ‘undo’ a served penalty. In any case, it is impossible to imagine how such power could be applied. Notably, no other party petitioned for a Right of Review within the allowable time frame.”But McLaren had decided quickly that it would lodge an intention to appeal, with the rules allowing a 96-hour window to decide whether to actually go through with the appeal. Mercedes did this in the wake of the controversial 2021 Abu Dhabi GP ending but ultimately didn’t appeal.On Tuesday, McLaren said it had “formally lodged a notification of appeal with the FIA International Court of Appeal” over the revisions to the race results and championship points standings as a result of Gasly’s penalty being rescinded.McLaren driver Oscar Piastri heads a pack of cars at the Barcelona-Catalunya GP featuring Pierre Gasly (right) of Alpine. (Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images)In a statement, McLaren said: “While we fully respect the FIA’s judicial processes and the role of the stewards, we believe this case raises important questions concerning sporting fairness, regulatory consistency and the integrity of competition.“Throughout the Monaco GP weekend – and in every event – all teams operated according to the regulations and established standard practices for what concerns the speed limit in the pit lane as they were applied at the time. Competitors adjusted their procedures accordingly and, where required, accepted and served penalties imposed under those regulations.“In our view, the subsequent removal of penalties creates a situation in which some competitors are disadvantaged by having acted in accordance with the rules and the stewards’ decisions. Such an outcome risks creating sporting inequity and undermining confidence in the consistent application of the FIA sporting regulations.“Our decision to appeal is not directed at any competitor. Rather, it reflects our belief that the championship benefits from regulations that are applied consistently, transparently and fairly to all participants.”It is not yet known if Red Bull will also appeal the Gasly decisions, as it had also indicated it may do last Friday.Mercedes may also choose to join the appeal process. But its situation is even more complicated.George Russell initially received a five-second penalty for the alleged pit lane speeding, but because Mercedes did not serve this correctly at a subsequent pit stop, the Briton also was handed a drive-through penalty, which was served in-race as required by F1’s rules and was dropped down to 12th and out of the points.Without this, Russell was on course to take third place behind winner Kimi Antonelli and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, who was another given a pit lane speeding penalty that he served without impact on this race result.Jun 16, 2026Connections: Sports EditionSpot the pattern. Connect the termsFind the hidden link between sports terms