Monaco penalties being reviewed after shock error revealed

Key Points:

• Alpine has won a review of Pierre Gasly’s penalties at the Monaco Grand Prix after Formula 1 used an inaccurate pitlane distance to measure car speeds, leading to Gasly’s demotion from third to seventh place due to two five-second penalties for minor speeding.
• The key evidence presented by Alpine revealed that the distance used by Formula One Management (FOM) to calculate pitlane speed was inaccurate and overestimated Gasly’s speed, meaning the FIA system worked correctly but was compromised by faulty data.
• Alpine also argued that the FIA and FOM were aware of timing loop issues before the race, which was strongly denied by officials, and provided data showing Gasly used the pitlane speed limiter appropriately and took a cautious approach.
• The review could result in the race outcome being changed, though this may spark controversy since other drivers received penalties during the race rather than as post-race time additions.
• Alternatively, stewards might uphold the penalties and use this case as a lesson to prevent similar timing inaccuracies in future events.