LONDON : Formula One’s international court of appeal will take two to three weeks to decide the final results of June’s Monaco Grand Prix following a hearing in Paris on Tuesday, the sport’s governing body said.
The case will determine whether Alpine’s Pierre Gasly retains third place or Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar is restored to the podium, with the outcome also affecting drivers further down the order.
Gasly finished third on track on June 7 but was demoted to seventh after being handed two five-second penalties for speeding in the pit lane. Hadjar was subsequently promoted to third and celebrated on the podium.
The decision was overturned on June 12 after Alpine successfully exercised its right to review, with stewards accepting evidence that a timekeeping error had occurred. Hadjar then returned the trophy to Gasly.
Red Bull-owned Racing Bulls and McLaren appealed the decision on June 16.
The case has wider implications because McLaren’s Oscar Piastri received penalties for the same offence during the race. Unlike Gasly, Piastri served his penalties before the finish and therefore could not benefit from the subsequent review.
Piastri finished fifth after the penalties, with Liam Lawson sixth and Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad seventh. Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli won the race, ahead of Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton.
Mercedes driver George Russell, another championship contender, also received a drive-through penalty for pit-lane speeding and finished outside the points. He said he had asked for the penalty to be applied after the race so it could potentially be overturned.
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said the appeal was motivated by concerns over sporting fairness as well as the championship implications.
“There’s a general interest for Formula One and the sport and the integrity of the sport, and there’s a material interest for McLaren in terms of our championship impact,” Stella said at the Dutch Grand Prix.
The court’s ruling will provide the final outcome of a dispute that has left the Monaco podium unresolved for more than two months.
