Mercedes weighing legal options as Monaco pitlane penalty saga rolls on

Mercedes is considering launching legal action over George Russell’s scoreless Monaco Grand Prix after the Monte Carlo stewards found the pit lane speed limit was being improperly measured in the principality.

The findings, published on Friday ahead of practice, responded to a successful petition from Alpine to have Pierre Gasly’s two speeding penalties expunged from the results, reinstating him to third place after having been dumped to seventh after the checkered flag.

Red Bull Racing and McLaren have both signaled their intention to appeal that ruling, both having lost points with Gasly’s promotion.

Gasly’s success in appealing his speeding penalty was of cold comfort to Mercedes, after Russell tumbled from a likely podium finish to outside the points thanks to a series of events stemming from a 5s penalty for speeding in pit lane.

A miscommunication resulted in Russell pitting during a safety car and the team not serving that penalty, leading to him being slapped with a drive-through penalty late in the race that dropped him to an eventual 12th.

The stewards noted specifically in their Friday ruling that they had no power to undo penalties served during a race, and though Mercedes boss Toto Wolff acknowledged that Mercedes is unlikely to be able to change the result in Russell’s favor, he signaled that his team would consider its options for legal satisfaction.

“We were on the phone with our lawyers to look at what we can do for George,” he said. “A drive-through, if it didn’t happen at the end, is equivalent of 20 seconds race time. What would 20 seconds race time have meant for his result?

“Do we think that we realistically have a position, a chance of reverting the result? I don’t think so, but we definitely have to give it a go if we see that there is a millimeter of chance to do so and bring him back to whatever it was before.

“It was a very unfortunate situation. For us as a team, and especially for George – massive implications. He had a difficult qualifying session, but he moved all the way back up there [to the podium places], and clearly without the penalty, without us not serving it correctly, it would have been a totally different outcome for his race.

“Whether he would have made the podium or just not is a different question, but a different outcome would have had an impact on his championship situation, and that’s why it’s unfortunate. Now we are assessing, as we speak, what the Gasly situation does for George.

“We have a reason to be annoyed for [it], and I wish we could have had those conversations before the race on Sunday.”

While Mercedes weighs its legal options, Red Bull Racing and McLaren have both notified that they intend to appeal the stewards decision reinstating Gasly to the podium.

Gasly’s elevation cost Isack Hadjar his second career podium and first for Red Bull, while Oscar Piastri dropped from fourth to fifth, costing him and his team two points.

Both teams were observers to Gasly’s right of review, and both made arguments against Alpine’s bid to have the penalties expunged.

Red Bull Racing argued that the pit lane timing system was consistent throughout the weekend and that teams knew enough to adjust their policies accordingly before the race.

McLaren argued that it was up to the teams to have coached their drivers to avoid tripping the speed limit – though Piastri was one of the drivers to have been penalized for speeding in the pit lane, which cost him three places when he served the punishment during the race.

Both teams have 96 hours to decide whether to press ahead with or withdraw their appeals.