Pierre Gasly ‘Heartbroken’ as Alpine Challenges Monaco Grand Prix Penalties

Alpine have requested a Right of Review from the FIA after Pierre Gasly lost a podium finish at the Monaco Grand Prix due to two pit-lane speeding penalties.

Gasly benefited from a chaotic race on the streets of the Principality, climbing from ninth to fourth. That then became third place after George Russell was handed a late drive-through penalty.

The Frenchman was then hit with penalties of his own, with two five-second time penalties added to his race time. The infraction: Gasly was recorded at 0.1km/h and 0.4km/h over the mandated 60km/h pit-lane speed limit.

“After the result of today’s Monaco Grand Prix, BWT Alpine Formula 1 Team can confirm it has requested a Right of Review from the FIA following the penalties applied for pit lane speeding,” read Alpine’s statement after the race.

Gasly himself gave an emotional reaction in the media zone, saying: “Right now, I’m just heartbroken. I don’t know what to say. I don’t want to be speaking right now.

“We all work so hard to get these moments, and then when it gets taken away from you for some things which we need to review… The team set the right speed limiter, and I put it way before the line on both times.

“I crossed the line in P3 in Monaco in front of all the fans and all the people here, and in the end we get penalised and finish far away. I don’t really know what to say.”

Gasly was demoted to seventh as a result of the penalties, with fellow Frenchman Isack Hadjar inheriting the final podium position. The Red Bull driver had already been cleared of his own investigation into an alleged red-flag infringement.

“It’s been 10 years I do this, I have five podiums in my career, and it hurts when you pass the line on the podium and then… I don’t know,” added a frustrated Gasly, who remained adamant that he was under the speed limit.

“Hopefully they [Alpine] can fight it, hopefully they can appeal it, because I just feel like we’ve done everything we had to do.”

The FIA measures pit-lane speeds using electronic timing loops and transponders rather than cameras or radar guns. The system calculates speed based on the time taken to travel between timing loops in the pit lane.

Reportedly, the wave of pit-lane penalties in Monaco stemmed from drivers cutting across the white line of the fast lane near Cadillac’s pit area, with the additional team garage creating a tighter operating environment.

Other notable penalties in Monaco included Sergio Perez being denied what could have been Cadillac’s first championship point after receiving a 10-second penalty for being out of position at the race start.

Russell was another driver penalised for pit-lane speeding, with his sanction upgraded to a drive-through penalty after Mercedes failed to serve it correctly. Oscar Piastri and Lewis Hamilton also received speeding penalties, although both still finished in the top four, claiming fourth and second respectively.

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Written by

Jawad Yaqub

An eCommerce Specialist by day and reporting on F1 by night. Jawad is passionate about motorsport, having provided accredited F1 coverage for more than a decade. Live blogging (almost) every grand prix too since 2014, as well as articles on the Supercars Championship. Also keen on sustainability, photography, collecting vinyl, (trying to) expertly barbeque and learning to Dad.

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