Alpine has confirmed that it has formally requested a review of the penalties handed to Pierre Gasly for speeding in the pit lane during the 2026 Monaco Grand Prix, a decision that ultimately cost the French driver a place on the podium.
The Enstone-based team announced its intention to challenge the sanctions shortly after the conclusion of the race, opening the door to a potential reassessment by the FIA.
“Following the results of today’s Monaco Grand Prix, BWT Alpine Formula One Team confirms that it has requested a right of review from the FIA regarding the penalties imposed for speeding in the pit lane,” the team stated in a brief official communication.
The move comes after a dramatic and emotional afternoon for Pierre Gasly. The Frenchman crossed the finish line in third place behind race winner Kimi Antonelli and second-placed Lewis Hamilton, seemingly securing one of the biggest results of Alpine’s season.
However, that celebration was short-lived after race officials applied penalties for two separate pit-lane speeding infringements, dropping Gasly out of the top three and denying him what would have been his sixth Formula 1 podium.
Pierre Gasly devastated after losing Monaco podium
The disappointment was evident in Pierre Gasly’s comments after the race. The Alpine driver admitted that the decision was one of the most painful moments of his Formula 1 career, particularly given the effort required to put himself in podium contention at one of the sport’s most prestigious events.
“I don’t think there’s anything that could hurt me more than this right now,” Gasly said after finishing seventh in the final classification of the Monaco Grand Prix.
“I’ve worked my ass off for ten years for moments like this. We gave everything today to get onto the podium. These are the kinds of moments that, for me, should not be taken away for unfair reasons. What happened isn’t right, and I hope they [the stewards] can make the right decision.”
The frustration is understandable considering the significance of a Monaco podium. For any Formula 1 driver, standing on the podium in Monte Carlo represents one of the most coveted achievements in the sport, making the loss particularly difficult to accept.
The penalties that changed the result
According to the stewards’ documentation, Pierre Gasly exceeded the pit-lane speed limit on two separate occasions during the race.
The first infringement recorded the Alpine driver at 60.1 km/h, while the second measured his speed at 60.4 km/h. The pit-lane speed limit in Monaco was set at 60.0 km/h throughout the race weekend. Although the excess speeds were extremely small, the regulations leave little room for interpretation, and race officials proceeded with the penalties based on the measurements provided by the FIA timing systems.
Those sanctions proved decisive in the final classification, transforming what had initially been a podium finish into a seventh-place result.
Gasly insists he activated the pit limiter correctly
Despite accepting that the official measurements showed a speed above the limit, Pierre Gasly strongly questioned the circumstances surrounding the incident and suggested that the situation deserved further investigation.
The French driver did not offer a specific explanation for the discrepancy but repeatedly stressed that he had activated the pit-lane speed limiter well before crossing the pit-entry line on both occasions.
“I know for a fact that what appears on the car display is below 60 km/h. And I know that on both occasions I activated it well before the line,” Gasly explained – “It’s probably one of the simplest settings you can use on a Formula 1 car.”
The Alpine driver also pointed to the fact that several teams reportedly received similar penalties throughout the weekend, suggesting that the issue may not be isolated to a single car or driver: “When you see three or four teams being penalised for speeding in the pit lane, I hope that sets off an alarm bell and that people look carefully into what’s happening, because this isn’t a normal situation.”
Alpine hopes FIA will re-examine the data
Pierre Gasly expressed hope that the FIA would take a closer look at the available evidence and carefully analyse the telemetry before reaching a final conclusion.
While he acknowledged that no decision could fully replace the experience of celebrating on the Monaco podium, he remains determined to pursue every possible avenue to restore the result: “They can verify it through the data. I just hope that whatever conclusion they reach, they analyse the data and the speed we were travelling at. The measurements are precise enough.”
The right-of-review process allows teams to present significant new evidence that was not available at the time the original decision was made. Should Alpine succeed in convincing the FIA that further examination is justified, the case could be reopened.
Gasly admitted that even if the result were eventually corrected, it would not erase the disappointment of missing the podium ceremony itself: “I hope we can still fight this. It won’t give me back the moment of celebrating on the podium with everyone. But a podium is still a podium, and for ten years I’ve been fighting hard to take every opportunity that comes my way.”
“I’ve managed to score five podiums, which in my opinion isn’t enough, and I believe I deserved this one. I hope they can do something.”
For now, Alpine and Pierre Gasly must wait for the FIA’s response. Whether the Monaco Grand Prix result remains unchanged or undergoes further review, the controversy has already become one of the most talked-about stories of the Formula 1 weekend.
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