Alpine’s Pierre Gasly has been stripped of his third place at the Monaco Grand Prix and Isack Hadjar reinstated to third position, the FIA’s International Court of Appeal has ruled.
Gasly was one of several drivers given penalties at the Monaco Grand Prix in June over pit lane speeding, but didn’t serve them during the race and finished third on track, though he was then demoted by 10 seconds to seventh place because of the penalties.
Alpine won an initial appeal to have Gasly’s penalties overturned, giving the team its first Formula 1 podium since 2024. In a decision issued Thursday and made public Friday ahead of the Italian Grand Prix, the ICA has now ruled that would mean judging him differently to other drivers who served penalties.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri now moves up a place to fourth, with Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad fifth and sixth, and Gasly back in seventh.
Confusion over the penalty system
Alpine expressed “disappointment and frustration with the outcome” and said it believed the team had been “unjustly punished.” McLaren welcomed a ruling it said provided “important clarity for teams.”
The dispute wasn’t just about pit lane speeding, and no one accused Gasly of unsafe driving.
It focused instead on whether the whole penalty system used a wrong measurement for the length of the pit lane, in effect potentially making it appear as if drivers were going faster than they really were.
However, the ICA ruled that changing the benchmark just for Gasly wouldn’t be fair.
“Selectively applying a different post-race parameter to Car 10 would mean that competitors who calibrated and competed against the common benchmark would be judged by one standard, while Car 10 would ultimately be judged by another,” the ICA ruled.
The dispute has put a spotlight on F1’s two most powerful management organizations. Formula One Management oversaw the timekeeping process which produced the speed measurements for the pit lane, while the FIA appointed the stewards who issued — and overturned — the penalties for Gasly.
The ICA said the fallout from the Monaco Grand Prix “may justify changes to FOM’s procedures for future events,” but shouldn’t overturn existing results.
Hadjar is confirmed with his first and so far only podium place since joining the main Red Bull team for 2026. The French driver is currently out with a wrist injury. The Italian Grand Prix is the second race he will miss.
___
