FIA to hear McLaren and Red Bull’s Monaco GP appeal next week

Next week, the FIA will hear the appeals from McLaren and Red Bull against the decision to reinstate Pierre Gasly’s podium at the Monaco Grand Prix.

The Alpine driver crossed the line in third on 7 June but two five-second penalties for pitlane speeding demoted a furious Gasly to seventh, handing Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar a podium.

But the French outfit immediately lodged a right of review bid because it had evidence that the 30-year-old had not exceeded the 60km/h limit and even took additional margin to stay below.

During the right of review hearing FOM – F1’s timekeeper – admitted that there had been an error with the distance measurement in the pitlane from which speeds were taken.

This caused average speeds to be over-reported and so stewards accepted the error as evidence that Gasly should have his penalties rescinded and thus, his third-place reinstated.

As such, the Frenchman finally secured his sixth career podium but this caused fury among teams, because Gasly wasn’t the only driver to be penalised for supposedly speeding in the pitlane.

The only difference was that other drivers had already served their penalties during the race, causing disbelief among teams that Alpine had been successful with its protest.

Oscar Piastri held a particularly strong opinion as the McLaren driver made an extra pitstop to serve his penalty, causing him to cross the finish line in fifth behind Gasly and Hadjar.

“I’m pretty mind-blown by the decision,” said Piastri at the following the Barcelona race. 

“When other people have been penalised for the same thing and served a penalty in the race, how you can then change one penalty, knowing that at least five or six other races have been impacted by that, is astonishing.”

George Russell was arguably the hardest done by as the Mercedes driver lost a potential podium when he pitted – only for stewards to determine he hadn’t served the penalty correctly.

This resulted in a drive-through penalty that dropped the title contender out of the top 10 into 12th, causing him to fall 68 points behind his championship-leading team-mate Kimi Antonelli.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren, Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Dom Gibbons / Formula 1 via Getty Images

“I’ve obviously lost the position, but I can only imagine how George is feeling,” added Piastri. “I could not believe my eyes.

“I lost the position to Pierre because I served the penalty. Technically I should be P3, but then technically George should be P3.

“The whole thing is now a mess. It’s quite the precedent they’ve got themselves into.”

It therefore caused McLaren and Red Bull to appeal the decision, while Mercedes launched a right to review but subsequently withdrew that as it had little chance of getting Russell’s result overturned.

For weeks, news of the proceedings had gone quiet but the FIA has now confirmed that its International Court of Appeal will hear from McLaren and Red Bull on Tuesday 25 August.

This will take place behind closed doors at the FIA’s headquarters in Paris after this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix, the first race since the 2026 summer shutdown. 

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– The Autosport.com Team