The FIA has confirmed Mercedes' request for a review of the Monaco Grand Prix results, with a hearing scheduled for this Saturday ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix
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George Russell, Mercedes
Photo by: Erik Junius |
The FIA has accepted Mercedes' request for a review of the Monaco Grand Prix result and George Russell's penalties, with a hearing scheduled for this Saturday, following Alpine's successful overturning of Pierre Gasly's penalties.
A document published by the FIA on Wednesday confirmed that Mercedes has lodged a Right of Review petition regarding the decision made by the Monaco stewards following Alpine's successful challenge against the penalties issued during the race.
That puts the Monaco Grrand Prix result in further doubt after it was already amended last week.
The hearing will take place in two stages. As per the regulations, the stewards will first determine whether Mercedes has presented a "significant and relevant new element" that was unavailable at the time of the original decision. If that threshold is met, the case will proceed to a second hearing, where the substance of the challenge will be considered.
The latest development follows the dramatic twist in the Monaco Grand Prix result that saw Gasly's two pitlane speeding penalties overturned.
Several drivers were penalised during the race for allegedly exceeding the 60km/h pitlane speed limit. Gasly received two separate five-second penalties, dropping him from a podium finish to seventh place in the final classification.
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Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
Pierre Gasly, Alpine |
However, Alpine successfully challenged those penalties after presenting evidence that the distance used by the official timing system in one of the pitlane timing sectors was incorrect for the Monaco pitlane layout. Formula One Management acknowledged the issue, admitting the timing system had been set up incorrectly, leading the stewards to rescind both penalties and restore Gasly to third place.
That decision immediately raised questions about the cases of other drivers who had received penalties under the same circumstances.
While the FIA stewards have not yet formally established that Russell's penalty was unjustified, the fact that FOM acknowledged the timing system was working incorrectly strongly suggests the Mercedes driver may also have been incorrectly penalised for speeding in the pitlane.
Russell was initially handed a five-second penalty for pitlane speeding. He then attempted to serve that penalty during a pitstop, but the stewards later determined that the penalty had not been served correctly. As a result, he received an additional drive-through penalty, which he served after the final restart.
The sequence dropped Russell out of the points, turning what had been a solid points-scoring afternoon into a point-less finish.
The consequences extended beyond Monaco itself, as Russell lost significant ground in the drivers' championship, with the zero score proving particularly costly in his battle against team-mate Kimi Antonelli.
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Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
George Russell, Mercedes
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Two other teams are understood to be challenging what is now a provisional Monaco Grand Prix result, with McLaren having already confirmed on Tuesday that it has formally protested the decision to overturn Gasly's penalties.
Its driver Oscar Piastri was also penalised during the race but, unlike Gasly, served his penalty during the grand prix. As a result, the decision to reinstate Gasly's original race time effectively dropped Piastri from fourth to fifth in the final classification.
Red Bull has not confirmed that it has protested last week's stewards' decision, but it is understood to have done so as well, as it seeks to restore Isack Hadjar's podium finish.
Hadjar originally inherited third place after Gasly's penalties were applied, before losing the position again when the Alpine driver's sanctions were rescinded.
Following the stewards' decision to cancel Gasly's penalties, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff confirmed the team's intention to continue challenging the Monaco result.
While admitting it was a long shot to have Russell's result revised, Wolff stressed that Mercedes would explore every possible avenue to secure a better outcome for its driver.
Although Russell ultimately finished outside the top 10 after serving a drive-through penalty, he had been running third on the road before the sanction was applied.
Wolff suggested there may be a mechanism to revisit the result by converting Russell's drive-through penalty into an equivalent time penalty. Under the sporting regulations, a drive-through penalty that cannot be served during a race is converted into a 20-second addition to a driver's race time.
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Guido De Bortoli / LAT Images via Getty Images
George Russell, Mercedes, Lando Norris, McLaren |
"A drive-through, if it didn't happen at the end, is equivalent of 20 seconds race time," Wolff said. "What would 20 seconds race time have meant for his result? Do we think that we realistically have a position, a chance of reverting the result? I don't think so, but we definitely have to give it a go if we see that there is a millimetre of chance to do so and bring him back to whatever it was before."
Wolff was referring to Article B1.9.6.c.iii of the sporting regulations, which covers situations where a driver is unable to serve a drive-through penalty during a race. In such cases, 20 seconds are added to the driver's final race time.
The Mercedes boss argued that the same principle could potentially be used in reverse if the original speeding penalty is ultimately deemed invalid. Under that interpretation, Russell's drive-through could effectively be converted into a 20-second race-time adjustment, potentially moving him back into the points-paying positions.
Whether the stewards have the regulatory scope to apply such a solution remains unclear, but it is one of the possible avenues Mercedes could pursue in its attempt to recover some of the ground Russell lost in Monaco.
- Oleg Karpov
