Gasly stripped of Monaco podium by 0.1km/h pitlane penalty after stunning climb from ninth

Pierre Gasly was classified seventh at the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday after two pitlane speeding penalties wiped out what had been a brilliant third-place finish, with the Alpine driver insisting he had done nothing wrong and calling the outcome “not right”.

Gasly had produced one of the drives of the race, climbing from ninth on the grid to cross the line third by overtaking Lando Norris at the start and then passing Isack Hadjar at the final restart. The result was undone in the stewards’ room, however, where he received two five-second penalties for exceeding the 60km/h pitlane speed limit — one infringement by 0.1km/h and another by 0.4km/h — dropping him four places in the final classification.

“I don’t think there is anything that could hurt me more right now,” an emotional Gasly said after the race. “It’s 10 years I’m fucking working my ass off for this type of moment. We did everything right today standing on that podium in front of all the fans that turned up. This is the type of moment that for me can’t be taken away from us by unfair reasons.”

Gasly maintained he had activated his speed limiter correctly and well before the pitlane entry line on both occasions. “I know for a fact that what’s in the car is below the 60kph and I know on both occasions I’ve put it way before the line,” he said. “That’s probably the most simple setting you can put in a Formula 1 car.”

Gasly was not alone in being caught out. George Russell, Oscar Piastri and Lewis Hamilton were among several drivers also penalised for pitlane speeding during the race. One theory circulating in the paddock was that the infringements may have been linked to the line drivers took when entering the pitlane, though no official explanation had been confirmed at the time of writing.

The Frenchman called on the FIA to examine the data and review what happened across the field. “When you have three or four teams that get caught for speeding, hopefully it rings a bell to the guys that they need to check exactly what’s going on,” he said.

Gasly acknowledged that even a successful appeal could not restore the experience of celebrating on the Monaco podium. “It’s not going to give my moment back in terms of celebrating on the podium with the people,” he said. “But podium is a podium and it’s been 10 years I’ve been fighting very hard to get every single opportunity. I’ve managed to get five podiums, which is not enough if you ask me, and I deserve this one.”