Martin Brundle issues brutal verdict as F1 court handles '30 cases' in one day

Martin Brundle speaks into a Sky Sports microphone — Photo: © IMAGO

Monaco Grand Prix

Martin Brundle issues brutal verdict as F1 court handles '30 cases' in one day

Rules. Without them, we'd live with the animals

Chris Deeley Editor

Experienced sports writer covering F1 and other motorsports since 2023

Tuesday 9 June 2026 15:04

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Feeling sorry for F1 stewards is a bit like feeling sorry for referees. They chose to be sports coppers, that's on them.

Even so, the FIA's decision squad had a lot on their plates at the Monaco Grand Prix on the weekend. There were countless pitlane speeding issues, track limits violations (somehow), penalties not being served, potential safety car infringements, and whatever Sergio Perez was up to.

As the stewards' decisions filtered out, Martin Brundle was one of the poor souls responsible for trying to keep track of them on live TV – with the pitlane speeding a particularly hot topic throughout the race.

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It became clear as the afternoon went on that those penalties were being handed down thanks to drivers taking a slight shortcut in the pitlane, something that teams had been warned about before the race. That minuscule reduction in time between timing loops resulted in five drivers being flagged for going less than 0.5km/h over the speed limit during the race (twice, in Pierre Gasly's case).

Brundle wrote that the stewards 'handled 30 cases' (for speeding and non-speeding infractions) before the final result was released several hours after the chequered flag.

Brundle: F1 rules brutality necessary

In his post-race column for Sky Sports, Brundle discussed the penalties – calling them 'brutal', but insisting that the right decisions were made, and for the right reasons.

"There was a significant sub-story to this whole race," he wrote, "that of speeding in the pit lane. A few drivers had fallen foul of that even just doing their reconnaissance laps to the grid. It was a situation which had been noted between the race director and teams during practice too.

"Pit-lane speed is measured by distance between various loops in the track surface, and as always drivers were finding a way to cut into the pits slightly early to save a metre or two.

"Because of the tight confines, the speed limit in Monaco is reduced from 80 kph to 60 kph. Despite doing everything right drivers were being penalised for 60.1 kph. Rules are rules because if that's fine, then 60.2 is only a fraction more and so must be fine too. Just like when a car is half a kilo underweight, in F1 it's necessarily brutal."

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F1 FIA Monaco Grand Prix Martin Brundle