Pierre Gasly has lost his third-place finish from the 2026 Monaco Grand Prix after the FIA International Court of Appeal reinstated two five-second penalties against the Alpine driver. The decision, issued after a closed hearing in Paris on August 25, changes the official Monaco Grand Prix result nearly three months after the race.
Gasly originally finished third behind Mercedes winner Kimi Antonelli and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton. The penalties came after FIA timing systems recorded Gasly at 60.4 km/h and 60.5 km/h in the pit lane, where the speed limit is 60 km/h. Alpine later challenged the penalties and won its Right of Review, but McLaren and Red Bull appealed that decision. The FIA has now restored the original penalties, dropping Gasly to seventh.
F1 Penalty Changes Pierre Gasly’s Monaco Grand Prix Result
The original F1 penalty was based on two pit-lane speed readings. Gasly had not served the penalties during the race, so officials added 10 seconds to his finishing time. That initially moved him from third to seventh.
Alpine later found an issue with the distance used by the official timing system. The FIA timekeeper used a pit-lane distance of 2,692 cm between two timing loops. Post-race lidar scans showed that the shortest possible driven path was 2,615 cm.
Using the shorter distance, Alpine argued that Gasly’s actual speed stayed below the 60 km/h limit. The stewards accepted that argument on June 12 and removed the F1 penalty. Gasly returned to third, while Isack Hadjar moved from third to fourth.
FIA Appeal Reinstates Gasly’s F1 Penalty
McLaren and Red Bull appealed the June decision. They argued that other drivers had already served their penalties during the Monaco Grand Prix and that changing only Gasly’s result created an inconsistent outcome.
The FIA International Court of Appeal granted the appeals on September 3. It reinstated both five-second penalties and ordered the Monaco Grand Prix classification to be changed.
Gasly is now seventh. Hadjar returns to third for his first podium with Red Bull. Oscar Piastri is fourth, Liam Lawson fifth and Arvid Lindblad sixth. Antonelli and Hamilton keep first and second.
F1 Pit-Lane Speed Rule Behind the Monaco Dispute
The FIA’s timing method has caused a similar issue before. At the 2009 Singapore Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel received a drive-through penalty after the timing system recorded him above the 100 km/h pit-lane limit. Telemetry data from Red Bull indicated that Vettel remained within the limit. “Vettel said there should be a speed limit, not a speed-distance limit. It should be independent of the distance you travel.”
The FIA later removed its 0.5 km/h pit-lane tolerance in 2022. Since then, any reading above the stated limit can result in a penalty.
The 2026 Monaco Grand Prix case also changes the championship standings. Gasly loses nine points, while Hadjar gains three. The FIA has confirmed that it is reviewing the current F1 timing system and its operation. For now, the Monaco Grand Prix classification is final.
F1 Penalty Shock: Pierre Gasly Loses Monaco Podium After FIA Reverses Key Decision