Alpine's penalty review for Gasly's Monaco demotion set for Friday verdict in Barcelona

Alpine’s bid to overturn Pierre Gasly’s Monaco Grand Prix penalties is heading toward a Friday morning verdict in Barcelona, after FIA stewards admitted the team’s right of review on Thursday on the basis of new evidence.

Gasly received two five-second time penalties for pitlane speeding during the Monaco Grand Prix, a punishment that stripped him of a podium finish and dropped him from third to seventh. Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar took his place on the iconic Monaco rostrum.

The new evidence presented by Alpine came in the form of data from F1 management showing that the distance-measuring system used to calculate pitlane speeds had been “inaccurate and overestimated the speed” of Gasly’s car. Stewards ruled that evidence sufficient to admit the review, and the formal hearing began on Thursday afternoon. Gasly was not the only driver caught out by the same system during the race, with several others also receiving penalties in circumstances that raised questions about a potential technical fault.

The hearing involved a video conference attended by Alpine, the stewards, and the majority of the other teams. Because a right of review deliberation also requires input from the original Monaco Grand Prix stewards, a final decision was not expected before Friday morning.

Gasly, speaking ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, described the Monaco penalty as the hardest moment of his sporting career but said he was trying to stay focused on the weekend ahead.

“I don’t want to say too much until the hearing is done and until the team has the conversation with the FIA,” Gasly said. “I think they’ve worked really hard and basically did the best they could to bring the new evidence. It’s been quite a lot of conversation with the team, with the lawyers, with our case, so I’m still very much into what happened and the whole situation.”

Despite the ongoing uncertainty, Gasly said he was determined not to let the episode derail his performance in Spain. “I’m glad that we have another race. I was already kind of trying to get my head around it and make sure that I come here 100% of myself to perform here. We’re proud of the performance. We’re very proud of what we achieved in Monaco.”

The stewards are expected to inform all teams present at the hearing of their verdict before any public announcement is made.