Mercedes secure FIA hearing to challenge Russell's Monaco GP pitlane penalties

The FIA has confirmed a Right of Review hearing for Mercedes this Saturday, ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix, as the team challenges the pitlane speeding penalties handed to George Russell at the Monaco Grand Prix.

The hearing was granted after an FIA document published on Wednesday confirmed Mercedes had lodged a formal petition, citing the same flawed timing system that led to Alpine successfully overturning Pierre Gasly’s penalties last week.

The Monaco result has now been amended twice in a matter of days. Gasly had received two separate five-second penalties for allegedly exceeding the 60km/h pitlane speed limit, dropping him from a podium finish to seventh. Alpine challenged those penalties after presenting evidence that the distance used by the official timing system in one of the pitlane sectors was incorrectly configured for Monaco’s pitlane layout. Formula One Management acknowledged the error, and the stewards rescinded both penalties, restoring Gasly to third place.

That admission immediately raised questions about other drivers penalised under the same conditions — most notably Russell.

The Mercedes driver was first issued a five-second penalty for pitlane speeding. When he attempted to serve it during a pitstop, the stewards ruled it had not been served correctly, and issued an additional drive-through penalty, which Russell served after the final restart. The sequence cost him what had been a points-scoring afternoon.

The Saturday hearing will proceed in two stages. Stewards must first determine whether Mercedes has presented a “significant and relevant new element” that was unavailable at the time of the original decision. If that threshold is met, the substance of the challenge will then be heard in a second stage.

It remains unclear whether Mercedes is specifically seeking to overturn Russell’s penalties, to challenge Gasly’s reinstatement to the podium, or both. While the stewards have not yet formally ruled on Russell’s case, FOM’s acknowledgement that the timing system was incorrectly set up strongly implies he may have been penalised in error.