Mercedes has submitted a right of review over the FIA stewards deciding to rescind Pierre Gasly’s time penalties from the Monaco Grand Prix.A team representative will meet virtually with the stewards on Saturday June 20 in a two-part hearing. The announcement comes just a day after McLaren and Red Bull lodged their appeals over the matter.Gasly, George Russell, Lewis Hamilton, Oscar Piastri and Franco Colapinto all were handed time penalties for exceeding the speed limit in pit lane in Monaco — all by fine margins. Unlike Piastri and Russell, who served their penalties in-race, Alpine opted against pitting Gasly and the time was tacked onto his final result. With two five-second penalties, it dropped the Frenchman from a provisional third-place finish down to seventh.Alpine submitted a request for a right of review. The stewards ultimately found a discrepancy in the measurements of the distance between two timing loops in the pit lane, via the official timekeeper’s measurement and the Light Detection and Ranging scans presumably taken post-event.
The stewards needed to determine whether Gasly exceeded the pit lane speed limit, and they deemed that he had not, given the definition of the formula — “the measured minimum distance between the loops.” His podium finish was subsequently reinstated.McLaren and Red Bull both lodged intentions to appeal the decision, given the implications on both teams. Isack Hadjar dropped from third to fourth with Gasly’s penalties being rescinded, and Piastri fell from fourth to fifth.Mercedes’ situation is complicated. Russell initially received a five-second penalty for the alleged pit lane speeding, but because he did not serve it correctly, the Briton also was handed a drive-through penalty, which must be served in-race.Team principal Toto Wolff acknowledged during Friday’s FIA news conference in Barcelona that Russell endured a difficult qualifying session yet managed to move back to within high points-scoring contention. He added that if Mercedes had correctly served the initial penalty, “it would have been a totally different outcome for his race.”Russell fell to 12th as result of his drive-through penalty (Joe Portlock/Getty Images)“Whether he would have made the podium or just not is a different question, but a different outcome would have had an impact on his championship situation,” he continued. “And that’s why it’s unfortunate. Now we are assessing, as we speak, what the Gasly situation does for George. Obviously there are certain timing restraints.“We wouldn’t appeal the Gasly result, certainly, but we would like the FIA to look at what could be the remedies for George’s race.”One of the first hurdles to clear with the right of review process is that the evidence presented must be new, significant, relevant and not available when the decision was made. If all four criteria are met, then the stewards proceed with revisiting the decision.
