Red Bull expressed satisfaction with the decision of the FIA (International Automobile Federation) Court of Appeal which, this Friday (4), restored Isack Hadjar’s third place in the Monaco GP. Laurent Mekies, team principal, highlighted that the result meets both the driver’s interests and the need to maintain consistent criteria in Formula 1.
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Hadjar had originally finished the race in third, but lost the podium after Pierre Gasly received two five-second penalties for speeding in the pit lane. Alpine later managed to annul the penalties after pointing out an error in the pit lane measurement.
The change, however, caused a problem: other drivers, such as Oscar Piastri, had already served penalties for the same type of infraction. Red Bull and McLaren then appealed to the Court of Appeal. With this Friday’s decision, Gasly’s penalties were reinstated and Hadjar recovered the podium.
“Look, first of all, we are very happy that the court reinstated Isack’s podium,” Mekies told Sky Sports F1. “This is important for Isack, but we also did it because we understood it was important for the sport. We don’t want to race and then have to worry whether the speed limit check was correct or not,” he explained.
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Mekies recalled that, in Monaco, some drivers respected the speed limit and others exceeded it. Some served penalties, while others benefited from Alpine’s review: “We felt that many cars followed the rules in Monaco regarding the speed limit, while some were above it. Some served the penalty and others did not. It was important to have a consistent way to race.”
Therefore, the executive considered the FIA’s decision positive, which also represents Hadjar’s first podium for Red Bull: “We are happy with the court’s result. That was exactly why we took the case to the FIA Court of Appeal: because we understood it was important for the sport and, of course, for Isack — it was his first podium with us.”
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