Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff emphasises: "We have reason to be angry"

The investigation into the two Monaco time penalties that Gasly received for speeding in the pit lane revealed that the pit lane was measured incorrectly during last week's race in the Principality. To be precise, it was a 77 cm deviation that led to the Frenchman's two time penalties, which initially had far-reaching consequences. The ten penalty seconds imposed on Gasly after the race dropped him from third to seventh place.

The team took the opportunity to call for a second review, which was only possible because Gasly had not yet served the penalties. Several drivers shared the fate of the Alpine driver, but served their penalties. And in accordance with the Formula 1 regulations, the penalties served cannot be cancelled by the rule makers.

In the Gasly judgement, the race stewards stated that "some of the penalised drivers have served their penalties, which has unfortunately had an impact on the race strategies and their results. There will undoubtedly be questions as to whether these offences actually occurred. There is no rule that allows race stewards to cancel a penalty that has been served. And it is inconceivable how such a possibility could be implemented. It is remarkable that no other party has submitted an application for a review within the deadline."

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff explained at the FIA press conference in Barcelona on Friday that the team is legally examining what can be done in the case of George Russell. The Briton had also received a 5-second time penalty - and because this was not served correctly, there was also a drive-through penalty for the star driver, who thus dropped out of the points and had to accept a painful zero.

Because of Gasly's judgement: chance for George Russell?

When asked whether Mercedes saw any chance of changing the result for Russell, the Viennese said: "I think the talks are definitely continuing, but I have just been on the phone to our lawyers and we also need to look at what we can do for George. If the drive-through penalty had not been imposed, it would have equated to a time saving of 20 seconds in the race. What would 20 seconds have meant for his result? Do I think we realistically have a chance of overturning the result? I don't think so. But we certainly have to try, if there's even the slightest chance, and get him back to third or fourth, depending on what we've calculated."

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The 54-year-old also said, "We can all learn from this, because it wasn't something that just came up on Sunday. It was pointed out beforehand. It has massive implications for us as a team and for George in particular. He had a difficult qualifying session, but he fought his way back to the front and it's clear that without the penalty, without us not having served it correctly, the result of his race would have been very different."

"Whether he would have made it onto the podium or not is another question, but a different result would have had an impact on his championship situation. And that's why it's unfortunate. We are currently analysing how the Gasly situation will affect George. Of course there are certain time restrictions, but we want the FIA to look at what can be done. I think there are time restrictions and other legal constraints. But we have reason to be upset. And I wish we could have had these discussions before the race on Sunday," Wolff also made clear.