Flavio Briatore criticized the FIA International Court of Appeal after the decision that reinstated the two five-second penalties applied to Pierre Gasly for speeding in the pit lane during the Monaco GP, announced this Friday (4). The Alpine boss questioned the independence of one of the four judges on the panel and pointed to an alleged connection with McLaren.
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Gasly had finished third but dropped to seventh after the penalties. Alpine initially managed to annul them by proving an error in the pit lane measurement. However, McLaren and Red Bull appealed, and the penalties were reinstated. As a result, Isack Hadjar is the third-place finisher of the race.
At the FIA team principals’ press conference during the Italian GP this Friday, Briatore stated: “First, we accept the decision, but what is very strange is that, of the four judges on the panel, one acts like a prosecutor.”
The official claimed to have found a photograph of the judge speaking to McLaren in 2018, at McLaren Special Operations (MSO), in Beverly Hills, and also mentioned the One Drop Foundation, which received a car from the team. “One of the judges was connected to a team that was contesting us.”
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Briatore also said that the magistrate was “very hostile during the hearing” and reinforced his main concern: “Our big question is this: why did someone with involvement with McLaren take part in the panel in this case?”
Despite the criticism, the Alpine boss said he accepts the result and only advocated a change in the composition of the panels: “We accept the result of the hearing. What was very disappointing was to find out that one of the judges has a very good relationship with McLaren, a working relationship, something like that.”
“The panel should be completely independent, and you don’t need someone connected to any team, especially the team involved with us in this situation. That’s it. Nothing more. Now we will see. We will think about what we can do next,” concluded the Italian.
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