INTERNATIONAL COURT OF APPEAL - HEARING AUGUST 25, 2026

The following hearing of the International Court of Appeal will take place in Paris:

Hearing

Case ICA-2026-06-07-08-09: Appeals lodged by McLaren Racing Limited and Red Bull Racing Limited against Decisions No. 1 and No. 2 of the Stewards contained in Document 99 of 12 June 2026 in respect of the 2026 Monaco Grand Prix, counting towards the 2026 FIA Formula One World Championship.

On 7 June 2026, having received reports from the Race Director of the 2026 Monaco Grand Prix, counting towards the 2026 FIA Formula One Word Championship, the Stewards decided to impose two 5-second time penalties to Car No. 10, driver Pierre Gasly (Documents 73 and 75) for pit-lane speeding during the Race, for recorded speeds of 60.1 km/h and 60.4 km/h respectively, in breach of Article B1.6.3a of the 2026 FIA Formula One Regulations - Section B.

On the same day, the Stewards received two petitions for Review under Article 14 of the FIA International Sporting Code from BWT Alpine F1 Team in respect of the aforementioned decisions of the Stewards of the 2026 Monaco Grand Prix.

On 12 June 2026, the Stewards determined that there was a significant and relevant new element that was unavailable to them at the time of their decisions contained in Documents 73 and 75. They decided to rescind both 5-second time penalties imposed on Car No. 10 (Document 99), amend the Race Classification (Document 100) and recalculate the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship points (Document 101).

On 16 June 2026, McLaren Racing Limited and Red Bull Racing Limited lodged an appeal against the above Stewards’ Decisions before the ICA.

When

09:00 hrs

Tuesday, 25 August 2026

Where

FIA – 8 place de la Concorde – 75008 Paris - France.

Decision

The decision will be published as soon as possible after the hearing.

Attendance

Upon decision of the Judging Panel and as requested by the parties involved in this case, for confidentiality reasons the above hearing will be closed to public, media and any person who is not authorised to attend it.

- FIA

ALPINE MAY GET A NEW NAME IN 2027 DUE TO A MEGA DEAL WITH GUCCI

This photo is made by AI and GPblog

The Alpine Formula 1 team will likely get a new name starting from the 2027 season. GPblog understands that luxury brand Gucci is the intended new title sponsor of the French team. The new name would then be Gucci Alpine Formula One Team.

BWT Alpine Formula One Team is currently the official and full name of the team of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto. BWT is expected to end its title sponsorship of the French outfit after the current season, which opens the door for a new naming partner.

That partner appears to be Gucci, part of the luxury group Kering. Since mid-last year, Luca de Meo has been the CEO of Kering. De Meo was for many years the CEO of Renault and a driving force behind the Formula 1 team, so the connection is quickly made.

Gucci is one of the largest luxury brands in the world. With the naming sponsorship of Alpine, the company would enter the world of glitz and glamour, perfectly matching the image Gucci aims to project. Reportedly, Gucci wants to leverage Formula 1—especially in the United States and Europe—to capitalize on the increasingly likely partnership with Alpine for further growth.

It is unknown how much Gucci is willing to spend for Alpine’s title sponsorship. In any case, such a major sponsorship would bring the French team tens of millions.

Alpine’s response to a possible deal with Gucci

GPblog asked Alpine about the collaboration with Gucci. The team responded with the following statement: "Alpine Formula One Team is constantly looking for new partnership opportunities and in contact with a wide range of brands and companies as potential partners. The discussions are however always kept confidential and they are disclosed only when confirmed and agreed by all parties."

Colapinto wows Buenos Aires crowd

Meanwhile, Colapinto says Argentina "deserves to have a race again" after the Alpine driver completed a show run on the streets of Buenos Aires in front of over half a million people.

The 22-year-old, himself from the Buenos Aires city of Pilar, performed his show run around a 2km course in the Palermo neighbourhood, near the capital's Monumento de Los Españoles, in a 2012 Lotus E20. The car was donning the pink and blue livery Alpine have had since its rebranding from Renault in 2021.

- Ludo van Denderen

HIRAKAWA LEAVES MCLAREN TO JOIN ALPINE FROM 2025 F1 SEASON

 

Ahead of the upcoming season, Alpine has announced that Ryō Hirakawa will join the Anglo-French team as test and reserve driver for 2025, expanding the pool of drivers from which the Enstone-based team may call upon throughout the season for testing and driving duties.

Hirakawa previously fulfilled test driver duties at McLaren, and he will now take on the role of test and reserve driver at Alpine. As part of his duties, the Japanese driver will participate in the Alpine's TPC programme and support with car development and technical understanding using the team’s simulator throughout the 2025 season.

In addition, Hirakawa will also drive in the opening practice at the Japanese Grand Prix that will take place at the Suzuka Circuit at the beginning of April.

Hirakawa has collected a wealth of experience over the past years, having competed across various disciplines including Super Formula, Endurance, and Super GT as well as having tested in Formula One machinery in 2023 and 2024.

His most most remarkable result is his overall victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2022, and he is also a two-time Hypercar Champion in the FIA World Endurance Championship (2022 and 2023).

Commenting on the announcement, Hirakawa noted: “It is an honour to be joining BWT Alpine Formula One Team as a Test and Reserve Driver for the 2025 season.

"As always, the opportunity of track time in Formula One machinery is the pinnacle for race drivers and I am excited to drive in Free Practice 1 in front of my home crowd at the Japanese Grand Prix, as well as working with the team testing previous cars.

"It is a great opportunity to be working with such a dedicated team that utilises the breadth of experience of its driver pool and I look forward to playing a part in making 2025 a positive year together.”

Reflecting on the announcement, Alpine's team boss Oliver Oakes added: “It is great to bring Ryō on board with the team for 2025 and have him step in to take over driving duties for FP1 in Japan in front of his home crowd.

"His addition brings a diverse range of racing experience to our current roster and expands the pool of talent available to call upon throughout the season.

"His role will be important in providing the team with support in various areas of development through our TPC programme and simulator work, and we are looking forward to welcoming him to the team as we press ahead with preparations for the new season.”

- Balazs Szabo

FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 2024, ALPINE AREN'T THE SLOWEST

A tough start to the 2024 season for Alpine got a little better in China, where for the first time this year they’ve managed to lap quicker than one of their rivals.

This has come about partly thanks to the team readying one example of its floor upgrade a race ahead of schedule. The upgrade was given to Esteban Ocon, but he lapped slower than his team mate in yesterday’s sprint race qualifying session.

Ocon admitted he needed to make more set-up changes to get the best out of his new parts. Fortunately for him the latest iteration of F1’s sprint event rules allow that and he duly claimed his highest starting position of the season with 13th place on Saturday.

He claimed that place with a lap of 1’35.223 which was just 0.018s faster than Alexander Albon managed. With his team mate Logan Sargeant dropping out in Q1, Alpine have beaten a rival team in qualifying for the first time this year.

Sector times

Albon will surely believe he should be further up the starting order. The gap between his actual lap time and his theoretical best based on his sectors was the largest of any driver. While Ocon got within three-hundredths of his potential best, Albon was over a third of a second off his. The upshot was Williams are the slowest team on pure pace this weekend, not Alpine."

 https://www.racefans.net/2024/04/20/for-the-first-time-in-2024-alpine-arent-the-slowest-team-just/#:~:text=A%20tough%20start,weekend%2C%20not%20Alpine.

Teams’ performance

At the other end of the grid things are much more predictable. Indeed, after missing a pole position for the first time this year in Friday’s sprint qualifying, Red Bull enjoyed the biggest margin of the season so far over their rivals in Saturday’s sprint race, lapping almost half a second quicker than anyone."

 Field performance

This is F1’s first race at Shanghai International Circuit for five years. The current cars are over three-and-a-half seconds slower than the previous generation of machines, but that deficit will be exacerbated by the unusual surface treatment which was unexpectedly applied to the track before F1’s return.

That is expected to change again before F1 returns next year, as the track is due to be fully resurfaced before the 2025 race."

 - Keith Collantine

STATEMENT FROM THE STEWARDS TO BWT ALPINE F1 TEAM | 2023 SPANISH GRAND PRIX