McLaren and Red Bull are currently awaiting a date for their International Court of Appeal hearing after they took issue with the Monaco Grand Prix stewards reinstating Pierre Gasly‘s Formula 1 podium. Here’s what happens next.
How we got here
At this month’s Monaco Grand Prix, several drivers were handed time penalties for exceeding pitlane speed limits, including Gasly, his Alpine team-mate Franco Colapinto, Oscar Piastri, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton.
Afterwards it emerged those pitlane infractions were false flags, caused by a timing loop error at the start of Monaco’s unique pit entry. All drivers, other than Gasly, had already served their time penalties during the race, while the Frenchman was handed a double five-second time penalty at the flag, demoting him from third to seventh.
In light of the timekeeping error, Alpine asked for a Right of Review against both penalties and over the Spanish Grand Prix weekend the FIA stewards decided to rescind both penalties, restoring Gasly’s podium berth. That demoted Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar to fourth and also bumped McLaren’s Piastri down after the Australian had served his penalty on track. Last week, both teams decided to launch an appeal procedure.
What have McLaren and Red Bull appealed against?
On Tuesday 16 June, McLaren announced it had appealed against documents 99, 100 and 101 of the Monaco Grand Prix, which is the stewards’ reinstatement of Gasly’s podium as well as the updated race classification and championship standings.
McLaren has taken issue with the fact the stewards’ decision effectively rewarded Gasly for not serving his time penalties on track, while Piastri and others did pay a price for the erroneous penalties.
“While we fully respect the FIA’s judicial processes and the role of the stewards, we believe this case raises important questions concerning sporting fairness, regulatory consistency and the integrity of competition,” the team stated.
Oscar Piastri was bumped down after Pierre Gasly’s penalties were rescinded
Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images
“The subsequent removal of penalties creates a situation in which some competitors are disadvantaged by having acted in accordance with the rules and the stewards’ decisions. Such an outcome risks creating sporting inequity and undermining confidence in the consistent application of the FIA Sporting Regulations.”
As revealed by Motorsport.com, Red Bull Racing also appealed against the amended result amid concerns over the sporting implications of the stewards’ unprecedented decision.
What is different about these protests compared with Mercedes’ Right of Review?
McLaren and Red Bull are not alone in their concerns, as several other teams have either privately or publicly expressed their unease at the can of worms the Gasly reinstatement has opened. There are fears the Monaco precedent means drivers are now incentivised not to serve any penalties during the race and protest afterwards instead, whether related to pitlane speeding or other infractions, which has a big impact on race strategy.
On Monday 15 June, Mercedes requested its own right of review procedure after Russell’s time penalty caused his Monaco race to spiral out of control, with the Briton ending up outside the points. In light of Gasly’s reinstatement and the admission that timekeeping had made a mistake, Mercedes wanted to explore if there was anything it could do to help Russell get his penalties undone too.
The procedure is different from an appeal in that it would be handled by the original Monaco Grand Prix stewards, usually via video conference, with the team in question having to present significant, relevant and previously unavailable evidence that they feel would have led to a different stewards’ decision if it had been available at the time.
But following talks with the FIA and F1 management, and in the knowledge that unpicking Russell’s penalties was impossible, Mercedes withdrew its request by Thursday night.
“Our subsequent collaborative discussion with FIA and Formula 1 has shown their determination to review the unique circumstances arising from the Monaco Grand Prix and to proactively address the factors that caused them,” a Mercedes statement read.
“In the face of this clear determination, we have concluded that further pursuit of our Right of Review application will not serve our team or the sport and thus we have withdrawn our submission.”
George Russell, saw his Monaco Grand Prix derailed after failing to serve his speeding penalty.
Photo by: Anni Graf – Formula 1 via Getty Images
What is the International Court of Appeal?
McLaren and Red Bull launched an appeal procedure against the stewards’ overturning of Gasly’s penalty, taking things a step further. The first step was to lodge an intention to appeal, which must be made within one hour of the original decision, and which then gave both parties 96 hours to decide whether or not to follow through.
By confirming their appeal, and paying the 5000 euro appeal fee and 20,000 euro deposit, the two teams will now head to the FIA’s International Court of Appeal in Geneva. The International Court of Appeal serves as the final, independent appeal tribunal in motorsport. The court has the authority to confirm, alter or waive penalties initially handed down by event stewards. As per the FIA website, the ICA “resolves disputes brought before it by any of motorsport’s National Sporting Authorities world-wide, or by the president of the FIA. It can also settle non-sporting disputes brought by national motoring organisations affiliated to the FIA.”
The ICA is an independent body, detached from the main structure of the FIA, and is composed of 36 judged elected at the FIA General Assembly. From that pool at least three judges will be assigned to the case by the president of the ICA, currently Lauren Anselmi from Monaco, who also presides over the hearing.
When will the case move forward?
The ‘appellants’, in this case McLaren and Red Bull, have up to 15 days to submit their grounds for appeal, which must be sent via post and email in both French and English and set out their intended arguments, the remedy sought and a list of intended evidence and other supporting documents. It is understood that this has happened at the time of writing. The respondent, generally the FIA itself as it appointed the Monaco GP stewards, then has another 15 days to submit a response.
There will then be a period of at least 15 days between the submission of the response and the hearing. McLaren and Red Bull have yet to be summoned for a hearing, so this is expected to take place some time in July.
During the open hearing, both parties will set out their respective arguments, while the court can also hear any relevant witnesses or experts if required before the parties are invited to make closing statements. The president will then announce the likely time and date when the verdict will be announced, before the judges deliberate their decision behind closed doors.
The decision, which can confirm, mitigate or waive Gasly’s Monaco Grand Prix penalty, will be taken via a simple majority, with the president breaking the tie if necessary, and will then be communicated to the FIA and the parties involved.
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