Mercedes' FIA penalty appeal concludes as official statement issued

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Mercedes' FIA penalty appeal concludes as official statement issued

Mercedes U-turn!

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Friday 19 June 2026 10:47

Mercedes have issued a statement confirming that their right of review about the Monaco Grand Prix has now concluded.

The Brackley-based outfit exercised their right after Alpine had won their own battle against the penalties that Pierre Gasly was handed in the race two weeks ago, reinstating his podium finish.

Mercedes have now announced in an official statement that their right of review process is over, following conversations with the FIA over penalties that were handed to George Russell during that particular race. They have withdrawn their right of review after admitting in the statement that it 'would not serve our team or our sport'.

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It means that, finally, after two weeks, we can officially say with confidence the result of the Monaco GP. Gasly did indeed claim his sixth career podium, while Russell dropped out of the points thanks to his late drive-through penalty.

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Mercedes withdraw right of review

In a statement, Mercedes said: "We can confirm that we have withdrawn our right of review submission relating to the penalties received and served by George Russell during the Monaco Grand Prix.

"Following the decision to rescind Pierre Gasly’s time penalty, it was important for us to explore all available options to address the impact of George’s pitlane speeding penalty on his race result.

"We had a limited time window in which to apply for the right of review during the race weekend in Barcelona, and did so in order to reserve our position in this regard.

"Our subsequent collaborative discussion with FIA and Formula One has shown their determination to review the unique circumstances arising from the Monaco Grand Prix and to proactively address the factors that caused them.

"In the face of this clear determination, we have concluded that further pursuit of our right of review application will not serve our team or the sport and thus we have withdrawn our submission."

Why were the teams appealing Monaco GP penalties?

A number of drivers - including Russell and Gasly - were handed five-second time penalties during the Monaco GP race for speeding in the pit lane, but all were found to only be 0.1km/h above the speed limit.

It was later revealed that it was the angle that the drivers were entering the pits that was confusing the sensors, with Sky Sports F1's Bernie Collins revealing that they work in a similar way to motorway average speed checks.

Gasly was handed two penalties for that offence demoting him down to seventh post-race, while Russell got into hot water for failing to serve his initial penalty correctly, meaning that he was hit with an extra drive-through penalty.

Alpine immediately launched a right of review about Gasly's penalties and were successful, but that caused other teams to want to take action too, including Mercedes.

Toto Wolff revealed in Barcelona that he had got the lawyers involved to see if there was anything that could be done for Russell, but he was not confident of a result due to the fact that Russell had served his penalties in the middle of the race, rather than have it taken off his time at the end like Gasly.

F1 Mercedes George Russell Alpine Monaco Grand Prix Pierre Gasly