Wednesday, October 14Global edition

Gasly dropped from third to seventh in Monaco result as speeding penalties reinstated

The FIA's appeals court has restored Pierre Gasly's two five-second pit-lane penalties after ruling that speed-measurement parameters cannot be changed mid-weekend. Isack Hadjar returns to third place and Oscar Piastri moves up to fourth.
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Pierre Gasly has been dropped from third to seventh in the final classification of the 2026 Monaco Grand Prix after the FIA International Court of Appeal upheld appeals by McLaren and Red Bull over the removal of his pit-lane speeding penalties.

The FIA published its decision on Friday, 4 September, following a hearing in Paris on 25 August. Gasly’s two five-second penalties have been reinstated. Isack Hadjar returns to third place and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri moves up to fourth.

The ruling ends a dispute that began after Gasly crossed the line third in Monaco. He had received two five-second penalties for exceeding the 60 km/h pit-lane speed limit, which initially dropped him to seventh.

Alpine appealed after a 77-centimeter difference emerged between the officially recorded pit-lane distance and the actual shortest route a driver could take. During Alpine’s appeal in June, it was determined that Gasly had not breached the pit-lane speed limit under the revised calculation.

The Monaco stewards rescinded Gasly’s penalties on 12 June. That decision restored him to third, displacing Hadjar and costing Piastri two points. The stewards said at the time that the situation was unfair to other drivers.

Red Bull and McLaren appealed the stewards’ decision on 16 June. McLaren said its case concerned sporting integrity and its competitive interests. Team boss Andrea Stella said the removal of Gasly’s penalties had raised significant elements of concern from a position of fairness.

Lewis Hamilton, George Russell, Franco Colapinto and Piastri were also penalised during the Monaco race for exceeding the pit-lane speed limit. Their penalties were served during the race itself, unlike Gasly’s, and therefore could not be overturned.

The court concluded that the parameters used to measure speed limits should not be altered during a Grand Prix weekend once drivers have been notified of them. It instructed the competent sporting authority to amend the official race classification and championship points accordingly.

The ruling restores the result that followed the original application of the pit-lane speed limit. It also settles a case in which a discrepancy in the course measurement had changed the outcome for drivers and teams after the race had finished.

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Jesse CortésSports

Jesse Cortés writes long-form on sport and the people inside it, finding the human story behind the result. Patient, atmospheric, and drawn to what happens when the cameras leave.

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