Alpine Protest Monaco GP 2026: Gasly Demoted

Reactions from the Team and Drivers

Alpine team principal Flavio Briatore spoke about the events just a few hours after the race in Monte Carlo. He pointed out that the penalties had been imposed on at least four teams. Briatore said: „Diese Strafen wurden gegen mindestens vier Teams verhängt, was einen starken Grund für eine Überprüfung darstellt."

Gasly himself was deeply disappointed after the race. He told the specialist portal The Race: „Ich habe mir zehn Jahre den verdammten Hintern abgearbeitet für einen solchen Moment, wir haben alles richtig gemacht. Ich glaube nicht, dass mich gerade irgendwas mehr schmerzen könnte." Gasly also said that the penalties had not been applied fairly.

George Russell, who was also penalised, raised the possibility of a technical cause. Russell stated: „Das zeigt, dass es vielleicht ein Problem bei der Software oder so etwas gab." In a further statement, he said: „Ich habe auf den Knopf gedrückt und bin dann 60,1 Kilometer pro Stunde gefahren. 60 ist okay, 60,1 ist nicht mehr zulässig. Das ist mir passiert und da stehe ich jetzt."

Legal Basis of the Protest

Alpine and Gasly are confident that they can prove Gasly did not exceed the 60 km/h limit in the pit lane. In doing so, the team is invoking the so-called Right of Review — the right to have a decision reviewed. This applies as soon as „a significant and relevant new fact becomes known that was not available to the parties requesting the review at the time of the decision in question".

Open Questions Regarding the Technology

The FIA has already declared the Monaco result official, which complicates Alpine's starting position. The ball is now in the court of the governing body, which must rule on the formal protest. Should the review be successful, the order in the classification could change retrospectively and the podium could be redetermined.

Regardless of the outcome of the proceedings, the incident raises questions about the measurement technology and the uniform application of the pit lane speed limit. Several of the drivers affected had stressed that the thresholds were set extremely tightly and that even minimal deviations such as 0.1 km/h led to penalties. If the suspicion of a software or measurement problem is confirmed, this could have consequences for the upcoming races and technical monitoring.