(Motorsport-Total.com) – Will Pierre Gasly get his podium finish at the Monaco Grand Prix back? After the race, Alpine released a statement confirming that the team had filed a “Right of Review” request with the FIA to challenge the race result.
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Gasly had crossed the finish line in third place on Sunday, but lost the podium due to two penalties for speeding in the pit lane. He had exceeded the 60 km/h speed limit in the pit lane once by 0.1 km/h and once by 0.4 km/h.
On Tuesday, the International Automobile Federation now published two separate documents confirming that Alpine has submitted two review requests regarding the five-second penalties imposed on Gasly during Sunday’s race. The hearing is scheduled to take place virtually on Thursday at 13:00 CEST.
Alpine’s biggest challenge will not be to prove that the penalties were wrong. According to Article 14 of the FIA International Sporting Code, the team must first convince the stewards that there is a “significant and relevant new element” that was not available at the time of the original decisions.
The FIA documents show that the hearing is divided into two parts. In the first phase, Alpine will present evidence and arguments to demonstrate that such a new element exists. Only if the stewards are convinced that this prerequisite is met will a second phase follow, in which the penalties themselves will be re-evaluated.
The penalties were part of an unusually high number of pit lane speeding offenses during the race. The trigger was the special configuration of the Monaco pit lane as well as the method of speed measurement.
Instead of an instantaneous speed, the FIA calculates the average speed in the so-called Fast Lane using transponders and timing loops embedded in the asphalt. The system detected drivers who took a shorter line through the winding pit lane, thus covering a shorter distance between measurement points, even though they were traveling at the permitted speed.
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After the ten penalty seconds were added to his race time, Gasly dropped from third to seventh place in the final standings. The revised result put Isack Hadjar on the podium, while Oscar Piastri, Liam Lawson, and Arvid Lindblad also gained positions.
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Due to this significant drop, Alpine effectively needs both penalties to be overturned for Gasly to regain third place.
However, it is unusual for a “Right of Review” request to be successful in Formula 1, as teams often fail to present evidence that is considered both new and relevant by the stewards.
A notable exception occurred last year when the penalty against Carlos Sainz after a collision with Liam Lawson in Zandvoort was overturned after Williams submitted onboard footage that was not available to the stewards during the race.
What evidence Alpine intends to present to support its case is currently unclear.
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