Pierre Gasly has been stripped of his Monaco Grand Prix podium after McLaren won their appeal over a chaotic series of pit-lane speeding penalties that had reshaped the result weeks after the chequered flag.
The Alpine driver, who crossed the line third on the streets of Monte Carlo on 7 June, had been promoted back onto the podium when his team successfully challenged two five-second penalties originally handed to him. That brief celebration has now been wiped from the record.
A fresh ruling has restored the original classification, dropping Gasly back to seventh place – the position he held in the official results before Alpine’s appeal was upheld.
The big winners are Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri. Hadjar is reinstated to third, reclaiming what would have been a landmark podium, while Piastri moves back up to fourth.
At the heart of the row sits a basic but costly error: Formula 1 had incorrectly measured the length of the pit lane in Monaco. With the distance wrong, the system miscalculated average speeds, flagging several cars as having exceeded the limit when they had not. The mistake triggered multiple penalties and a wave of confusion that rolled on long after the race.
McLaren pushed the issue, arguing the competitive and sporting impact of the misapplied penalties. The latest decision confirms their stance and rewrites the story of that Sunday afternoon yet again.
Gasly, who had already ridden the emotional rollercoaster of losing, regaining and now losing the podium once more, must absorb another brutal twist. Hadjar, meanwhile, sees a career milestone restored, and McLaren leave the legal fight with their man Piastri back where he felt he belonged.
In a title race where every point feels loaded with consequence, Monaco’s pit lane – of all places – has become one of the season’s most influential corners.
