Perez penalty strips Cadillac of maiden F1 point and hands Alonso a lifeline

Sergio Perez’s chaotic Monaco Grand Prix ended in further frustration on Sunday when stewards issued a 10-second time penalty that erased what would have been Cadillac’s maiden Formula 1 points-finish, dropping the Mexican from 10th to last of the classified runners.

Perez had already served a drive-through penalty during the race for lining up in Gabriel Bortoleto’s empty grid box — two places ahead of his own — before clawing his way back through the order as incidents piled up around him. A red flag was triggered when Lance Stroll and Charles Leclerc both crashed at the Antony Noghes corner due to a deteriorating track surface, and it was at the subsequent second start that Perez’s afternoon unravelled for a second time.

Stewards reviewed positioning data, video footage and in-car camera evidence before concluding that the front-right wheel of Perez’s car had been outside his designated starting box. “Video evidence showed clearly that the front right wheel of Car 11 was outside the starting box,” the stewards’ report stated. “The standard penalty is applied.”

The 10-second addition to his race time was enough to push Perez behind all other finishers, denying Cadillac a historic first point in their debut Formula 1 season. The beneficiary is Fernando Alonso, whose Aston Martin inherits 10th place — giving Lawrence Stroll’s team their first point of the 2025 campaign and lifting them above Cadillac in the constructors’ standings.

Perez’s difficult day was compounded by a third sanction: a reprimand for conducting a practice start in the wrong location, in breach of the race director’s instructions. “The driver admitted that he had made a practice start in the wrong position,” the stewards noted.

The result is a painful missed opportunity for Cadillac, who had appeared set to mark their arrival in Formula 1 with a points score after capitalising on widespread chaos — including speeding penalties for multiple drivers, a drive-through for George Russell, and the late collision between Carlos Sainz and Nico Hulkenberg. Perez had expressed confidence before the penalty was confirmed that the point would stand. The stewards disagreed.