Alpine F1 Managing Director Steve Nielsen: "I feel sorry for the other drivers"

The fact that Pierre Gasly received two 5-second penalties for speeding in the pit lane in the Monaco GP initially had dire consequences for the Frenchman. The Alpine star, who had finished third, slipped to seventh place due to the ten penalty seconds that he was unable to serve, thus losing the prestigious podium position in the famous street race.

Alpine protested against the penalties - and was successful. The rule makers had to admit it: The pit lane in Monaco had been measured incorrectly - and therefore the penalties were not justified. As a result, the Renault works team regained the top three position.

Other drivers who shared Gasly's fate served their penalties, which is why they were unable to take legal action. Alpine F1 Managing Director Steve Nielsen sympathises with the competition. He said after the announcement of the ruling by the stewards: "I feel sorry for the other drivers, I guess we'll never know if they were really speeding in the pit lane or not."

"So these are really unfortunate situations, because in our case it was relatively easy to reverse it as everything was added after the race. With the others - George Russell, for example - we'll never really know what happened and I don't know how you could even clear it up," continued the Briton.

"You can't appeal against speeding in the pit lane, which is why we used the right of review. And I feel sorry for the other penalised drivers, I would be angry if I were them," Nielsen clarified.

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