(Motorsport-Total.com) – The retroactive restoration of Pierre Gasly’s podium place at the Monaco Grand Prix continues to spark discussions. Former Haas team principal Günther Steiner called the FIA’s decision a “debacle” and warned of the consequences for the consistency of rule interpretation in Formula 1.
Read more Günther Steiner sharply criticizes FIA: «Monaco was a debacle»
In the podcast “The Red Flags Podcast”, Steiner spoke clearly about the decision with which the FIA withdrew a previously imposed penalty against Alpine.
New evidence led to the turnaround
The background: Gasly was originally penalized with a time penalty for speeding in the pit lane and thus dropped from third to seventh place. After Alpine requested a review, the podium was restored.
The FIA explained that the team had new evidence that was not available to the race stewards at the time of their original decision.
What is particularly controversial is the fact that several other drivers were also penalized for speeding in the pit lane. However, these penalties were already served during the race and cannot be reversed afterwards.
Steiner criticizes lack of equal treatment
Steiner sees this as a fundamental problem: “The podium should not have been restored. If you give him back third place, you would also have to correct the other cases, and that is no longer possible. In this respect, it was complete chaos in Monte Carlo.”
Read more Günther Steiner sharply criticizes FIA: «Monaco was a debacle»
According to the South Tyrolean, the problem already began with incorrect information about the position of the measurement line or wrong information given to the teams.
“It started with the measurement line being in the wrong place or the teams being given incorrect information. But in the end, it is obviously the wrong decision to give him the podium back, because everyone else has received their penalties, and these can no longer be reversed,” explains Steiner.
He adds: “Such situations cannot be properly resolved in the end. Of course, I would have liked Pierre to have the podium, but he should stand there because he earned it the right way and not because of a problem that the rules do not even provide for or because someone made a mistake measuring a section of the track.”
“The whole thing was a debacle”
For Steiner, it is therefore clear: “In my opinion, the whole thing was a debacle.”
The discussion about the retroactive correction is likely to have effects beyond Monaco on the future handling of similar cases. Especially the question of how equal treatment and the correction of obvious errors can be reconciled could occupy Formula 1 for some time to come.
Read more Günther Steiner sharply criticizes FIA: «Monaco was a debacle»