MCLAREN'S PIASTRI CRITICISES REVERSAL OF GASLY'S MONACO PENALTY

Oscar Piastri expressed surprise at the stewards' decision to overturn Pierre Gasly's pit-lane speeding penalty at the Monaco Grand Prix. Gasly was reinstated to third place after Alpine successfully appealed the original sanction, which had initially dropped him to seventh. The stewards' verdict revealed a measurement error with the pit-lane speed limit that had affected multiple drivers across the race weekend.

Five drivers received penalties for exceeding the pit-lane speed limit, including Gasly, Piastri, George Russell, Lewis Hamilton and Franco Colapinto. Most violations involved breaches of 0.1km/h; one of Gasly's infringements reached 0.4km/h. Russell incurred a drive-through penalty for failing to correctly serve his original punishment at a pit stop, dropping him from third to twelfth place and costing him fifteen points in his title fight with Kimi Antonelli, the race winner. Hamilton's penalty was served during a safety-car period, allowing Ferrari to minimise the impact on his final classification. Piastri lost at least one position to Gasly when serving his penalty.

Piastri stated the stewards' decision was difficult to comprehend given the inconsistency in how the measurement error was addressed. He noted that reversing one penalty whilst leaving others to stand created an unusual situation, particularly when approximately five or six other races had been affected by the same measurement issue. The decision highlighted questions about the consistency of penalty application across multiple races.