Mercedes threatens legal action after successful Gasly appeal
Mercedes is considering legal action after Alpine’s successful appeal which reinstated Pierre Gasly’s podium finish from Monaco, following successive five-second pit-lane penalties.
McLaren and Red Bull are also planning to appeal the decision, which came five days after the event.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff. AP Photo/Philippe Magoni
Formula 1 stewards accepted a timing error and reinstated Gasly to third place for the race in Monaco.
Formula 1, responsible for the timekeeping, admitted to a “measurement discrepancy” resulting from pit lane changes and stewards rescinded Gasly’s penalties after a virtual hearing at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix following Alpine’s request for review.
Mercedes now wants to get George Russell’s penalties from Monaco overturned and their driver to be placed either third or fourth.
Russell’s entire race was impacted as Mercedes did not observe the penalty correctly, meaning he was then hit with a drive-through penalty, which dropped him from third to 13th.
According to the Telegraph, a Mercedes source said the team was “livid” about it.
“For us as a team, and especially for George, it has massive implications,” team boss Toto Wolff said.
“Clearly without the penalty, and without us not serving it correctly, it would have been a totally different outcome for his race.
“We are assessing as we speak what the Gasly situation does for George. Obviously there are certain timing restraints. We wouldn’t appeal the Gasly result but we’d like the FIA to look at what could be the remedies for George’s race.
“I think we are having some timing limitations, some legal constraints, but definitely I think we have a reason to be annoyed.”
Asked what exactly they hoped to achieve, Wolff added: “Well I think talks definitely going forward. But we also need to look at… when I left we were on the phone with our lawyers to see what we can do for George.
Pierre Gasly was robbed of a podium due to his speeding penalties. Jayce Illman
“The drive-through, if it didn’t happen, was equivalent to 20 seconds race time. What would that have meant for his result? Do we think realistically we have a chance of reversing the result? I don’t think so. But we definitely have to give it a go if we see there is a millimetre of a chance to do so, and bring him back to whatever it was, P3 or P4.”
Gasly was adamant on Sunday that he had not been speeding and said he was heartbroken by the penalties and “to have a lifelong dream of a Monaco podium taken away from me for reasons which I just cannot comprehend”.
As well as Isack Hadjar dropping down, after joining Mercedes winner Kimi Antonelli and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton on Sunday’s podium, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri is now shuffled down to fifth.
Alpine argued in their written submission that both the FIA and Formula 1 Management (FOM), but not the stewards, knew before the race that there was an issue with the timing loops in the pit lane.
They provided data showing that Gasly activated the car’s speed limiter before entering the pit lane and had stayed within the limit. The timing had recorded him doing 60.1 and 60.4 kph when the limit was 60 kph.
Stewards confirmed the inaccurate distance measurement was provided by FOM only on Wednesday after the race.
They noted concern during the race after three initial pit lane speeding breaches, all at 60.1 km/h, and said they had asked race control if there was any issue with the system, to which the answer was negative.
Formula 1 said it had followed procedures in the usual way. “Any improvements or refinements that are identified as being required in light of this situation will be implemented,” a spokesman said.
