Guenther Steiner has labelled the FIA’s decision to reinstate Pierre Gasly’s Monaco Grand Prix podium a “debacle”, warning that the ruling has opened a massive can of worms for Formula 1’s regulatory consistency.
Speaking on The Red Flags Podcast, the former Haas team principal gave a characteristically blunt assessment of the post-race decision following an Alpine appeal that overturned Gasly’s pitlane speeding penalty.
The sanction had originally dropped Gasly from third to seventh. As the Frenchman did not serve the penalty during the race, the time was applied to the final classification. Alpine lodged a right of review request, and the FIA later reinstated the podium finish when it confirmed the French team had successfully provided evidence that had not been available to the stewards at the time.
The scrutiny stemming from the reinstatement centres on the fact that several other drivers had been handed penalties for speeding in the pitlane, but served them during the race. There is no way of changing penalties that have already been served in the race.
“It shouldn’t have been reinstated because if you reinstate his podium, you have to change also the other ones, and you cannot do that anymore. It was a complete cluster**** Monte Carlo on that part.
Pierre Gasly, Alpine
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
“And it started with having the speeding line in the wrong place or giving the wrong information to the teams. But in the end, giving him the podium back obviously is the wrong thing to do because all the other ones have penalties, and they cannot get their penalties undone because you cannot do that.
“It’s one of these things. You cannot get this one right. And as much as I would have liked Pierre to be on the podium, he should be on there because it’s the right way for him to get on there, not because of something which the rules don’t provide, somebody made a mistake by measuring a piece of road. It’s one of these things.”
He concluded: “The whole thing was a debacle in my opinion.”
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