McLaren and Red Bull have won their appeals against the Monaco Grand Prix result, overturning a decision that had reinstated Alpine's Pierre Gasly on the podium. The court of appeal ruled that a pit-lane measurement parameter, once established and applied throughout a race, cannot be retrospectively changed for an individual competitor on sporting fairness grounds.
Gasly, who finished third on track, had his two five-second penalties overturned by Alpine's appeal in June after the team established he had not exceeded the pit-lane speed limit under an alternative measurement of the pit-lane distance. The discrepancy arose from a 77-centimetre difference between the officially measured pit-lane distance and the shortest route a driver could physically take.
McLaren appealed on the grounds that the reversal affected competitive fairness, as Oscar Piastri had lost points as a consequence of serving his own pit-lane speeding penalty. The court upheld the appeal, ruling that once competitors calibrate their cars to an established benchmark, "sporting fairness and equal treatment require that the parameter remains fixed." Gasly drops to seventh, with Red Bull's Isack Hadjar returning to third and Piastri to fourth.
Alpine said in a statement that while it disagreed with the decision and maintained Gasly had not exceeded the speed limit, "the team acknowledges the decision of the judging panel." McLaren said the appeal was brought "in the interests of the sport and to support the consistent and fair application of the regulations for all participants."
The court of appeal did not address whether pit-lane speeding penalties awarded to other drivers, including Mercedes' George Russell and McLaren's Piastri, were correctly assessed under the established measurement. Mercedes has contended that Russell never exceeded 60km/h.
