Is there any fair solution to Formula 1’s Monaco Grand Prix mess? | Debates and Polls

The Monaco Grand Prix plunged Formula 1 into a controversy which has no straightforward solution.

Early in the race it became apparent that something was awry as the stewards issued multiple penalties to drivers for breaking the pit lane speed limit. After the chequered flag it transpired most of those breaches occured by just one tenth of a kilometre per hour.

The stewards revealed the length of the pit lane had been measured inaccurately. This contributed to the problem, though as some team principals have pointed out, not all transgressed as a result. All teams had the opportunity to evaluate their pit lane speed during practice and some made adjustments to avoid a penalty.

Once the penalties started flying, things really got complicated. Some drivers served their penalties during the race, which officially means they cannot be retroactively removed.

One driver, George Russell, made a pit stop at which he should have served his penalty but failed to. He was therefore given an even stricter drive-through penalty, which he did serve, ending his hopes of finishing in the points.

Another driver, Pierre Gasly, collected two penalties yet legally served neither of them during the race. After the stewards applied them his Alpine team brought a Right of Review request which led the stewards to reveal the pit lane speeding error and reverse Gasly’s penalties.

This creates a situation which is obviously unfair. Five drivers were incorrectly issued penalties for speeding in the pit lane, yet only one has received justice by having them overturned. Unsurprisingly at least one team – McLaren – has already announced it is appealing against the decision (Mercedes having attempted to bring a Right of Review but withdrawn it).

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Is there a truly fair solution to the problem? If not, can the stewards do anything which might be considered sufficiently fair? Assuming they could take any action available to them, here are six possible responses.

Revert to the original result

The penalties should not have been issued in the first place, but they cannot all be rescinded. Therefore the only fair option to rescind none of them.

Under this solution, Gasly’s two five-second time penalties would be reapplied, reinstating Isack Hadjar to third place.

Remove penalties applied post-race

None of the drivers who served their penalties during the race did so because of a mandatory pit stop. It’s therefore fair to argue they should have avoided making those pit stops, meaning their penalties remained capable of being rescinded. This appeared to be Mercedes’ intention with Russell: they did not mean for him to make his second pit stop.

Under this solution, Gasly’s five-second time penalties would remain cancelled, leaving him third ahead of Hadjar, Oscar Piastri and the rest.

Deduct time from drivers who served incorrect penalties

The stewards have previously indicated this is not possible. This precedent was most recently upheld when they overturned a penalty Carlos Sainz Jnr received during last year’s Dutch Grand Prix, but could do nothing about the fact he already served it.

However as the stewards do apply penalties post-race, theoretically they could be removed as well. Deducting five seconds from Piastri’s race time would promote him to third ahead of Gasly.

As for Russell, a drive-through penalty adds 20 seconds when applied post-race. Removing 20 seconds from his race time, along with the other adjustments, would promote him to fifth ahead of Hadjar – the latter relegated three positions from his original podium finish by the adjustments.

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Add time to drivers who did not serve incorrect penalties

If removing time from drivers post-race is not allowable, how about adding time? This would be the opposite way of achieving the same outcome as the solution above: Instead of removing the incorrect penalties, add the equivalent penalties to every driver.

This hideously complex solution would mean adding the equivalent of the incorrectly served penalties – two five-second penalties and a drive-through – to every driver except for those who did serve the penalties in the first place. They would receive the same penalties less those they already served: e.g. Piastri would receive a five-second time penalty plus a drive-through, Russell two five-second penalties, Gasly a drive-through and so on.

While it could be argued that it would be unfair to penalise drivers who have committed no infringement. However it could also be claimed that this has already happened and this approach merely puts that right, without attempting to delete penalties which by precedent are not capable of being removed.

Use result from last lap before first penalty was served

Until Piastri served his pit lane speeding penalty on lap 59, no incorrect penalties had been applied. The stewards should therefore apply the results as they stood at that point, before any incorrect penalties were served.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli therefore keeps his win and Lewis Hamilton retains second place. Charles Leclerc never crashed out and takes third ahead of Russell, Hadjar, Piastri and Gasly.

As only 58 laps out of 78 were completed, the race did not reach 75% distance, and therefore reduced points are awarded: Antonelli gets 19, Hamilton 14, Leclerc 12 and so on.

Award no points for the race

The race has been tainted by the incorrect application of the rules. The only fair outcome is therefore to award no points for it.

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I say

You say

Which of these solutions would be a fair way to solve the problems raised by the Monaco Grand Prix penalties? Vote for as many as you choose below and explain your view in the comments.

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