Shock for Alpine: Red Bull Racing & McLaren prevail in court

What a mess: after Pierre Gasly was dropped from third to seventh place in the Monaco Grand Prix due to two 5-second time penalties – his Alpine team exercised its right to appeal, as it was able to prove that the Frenchman had not exceeded the speed limit in the pit lane at any point during the race – the very reason he had previously been handed the penalties.

The stewards looked into the matter and rescinded the penalties after identifying a measurement error. This caused some discontent amongst the competition, as Gasly was not the only one to have been penalised for speeding in the pit lane; however, his rivals had already served their penalties and so theirs could not be so easily overturned.

The decision to overturn the penalties imposed on the experienced Alpine driver meant that Isack Hadjar, Oscar Piastri, Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad were all dropped back a place. And neither Red Bull Racing nor McLaren were prepared to accept this. They took the matter to the Court of Appeal and were successful – the proceedings in Paris ended in their favour.

The Alpine team is disappointed and frustrated

As a result, Gasly is back down to seventh, whilst Hadjar can celebrate third place, Piastri is fourth and the Racing Bulls duo of Lawson and Lindblad occupy fifth and sixth places. The Alpine team responded to the decision with a statement, expressing their disappointment and frustration at the news from Paris.

“Although we disagree with the decision and continue to maintain wholeheartedly that the car with start number 10 did not exceed the speed limit in the pit lane at any point during the race, the team accepts the decision of the panel of judges from the recent hearing in Paris,” the statement reads.

Topic of the week

2027 MotoGP grid: Almost a quarter of the riders are new – implications for SBK

The 2027 MotoGP grid will feature five new regular riders, with at least three of those dropped set to move to the World Superbike Championship. The ones to suffer as a result are Alvaro Bautista and Danilo Petrucci.

Ivo Schützbach

Read more

TV program

Today

Monza: 2. Freies Training

FIA Formula One World Championship

04.09.2026 - 15:45

It continues: “Although the outcome does not meet our expectations and we believe we have been unfairly penalised, the team remains fully focused on improving its performance on the track and remains in a close and highly competitive championship battle. This outcome will not affect the team’s efforts or motivation to achieve its goals by the end of the season.”