Laurent Mekies (Red Bull Racing) on the FIA debacle: “We want clarity”

To use the appropriate football jargon for a moment, against the backdrop of the World Cup: the world motorsport governing body has scored an embarrassing own goal.

During the thrilling Monaco Grand Prix, there was a flurry of time penalties for speeding in the pit lane. As a result, Alpine driver Pierre Gasly, who had crossed the finish line in third place, lost his podium finish and dropped down to P7.

Embarrassing, embarrassing for the FIA: on 12 June, the rule-makers had to admit that the Monaco pit lane had been measured incorrectly – by 77 cm – meaning that two time penalties against Pierre Gasly and Alpine were invalid.

The French team were able to prove that at no point in the pits were they travelling faster than the maximum permitted speed of 60 km/h; consequently, the penalties were declared null and void, and Gasly secured the sixth podium finish of his F1 career – his first since Brazil 2024.

Gasly is therefore not seventh, but quite rightly third. However, this also means that Isack Hadjar (Red Bull Racing) is not third but fourth; Oscar Piastri (McLaren) is not fourth but fifth, followed by the two Racing Bulls drivers, Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad.

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As RBR and McLaren have lost points, it was to be expected what would happen next: they announced they would challenge the FIA’s decision in favour of the Gasly/Alpine protest, and a letter of intent to that effect has been lodged with the FIA.

In Barcelona, Red Bull Racing team principal Laurent Mekies confirmed that RBR intends to see this through against the FIA.

The Frenchman explained: “We simply believe this is a matter of principle for the good of the sport, so that we can all have clarity on how to deal with penalties during the race that are, in themselves, not subject to appeal. At the end of the race, the correct results should be established.”

“No measurement system is perfect; there isn’t just one way to measure speed, and all the others are wrong. However, we have been working according to a very specific system in Formula 1 for many years; it was the same in Monaco as it was the day before, the same as on Friday, the same as in previous years, and we have all adapted to it.”

“17 or 18 cars managed to stay within the bounds of the regulations, so we need to ensure that, as a sport, we have a sufficiently robust approach to provide clarity for fans and competitors.”