Could Alpine’s Right to Review success spark a major F1 domino effect?
Originally published by Motorsportweek
With the news that Alpine has won its Right to Review process for Pierre Gasly’s lost Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix podium, there is now a distinct possibility that there will be subsequent implications up and down the paddock.
The Frenchman took third place on the road in the principality last weekend, but was denied the position in the final classification after it was determined that an excess of the pit lane speed limit would earn him two five-second penalties.
Time penalties are now part and parcel of the sport, the FIA having experimented with them as far back as 1995. But in those days, adding a penalty to your stop was not an option. Instead, if found guilty of speeding, you had to trundle to the end of the pit lane and watch a digital timer count down from ten to zero before setting off again.
A harsh method that put driver failure to move off the grid correctly on very public display, but nonetheless, it was a very effective policing measure. Today, of course, it is less brutal, drivers either having it added to race time (as seen in Monaco with Gasly and others) or serving it prior to a pit stop.
The effect, of course, remains the same: it destroys a race. Recall when you were a child on the beach, and someone destroyed your sandcastle after hours of building it. While not quite the same thing, the feeling of desolation and time wasted could be seen as very similar.
Attempting to recover from losing ten seconds on track is a bit like trying to take a penalty kick in football while blindfolded and standing on a merry-go-round. Added in the closing stages of the race, it takes away any hope of salvaging a result.
It therefore came as no surprise when Alpine quickly brought itself into action with the gathering of evidence apparently proving its driver’s innocence, and at an FIA hearing, it has proved to be successful, managing to convince the sport’s governing body that a Right to Review is necessary, and then the conclusion that he should indeed be handed back his third place.
But with other drivers officially reprimanded for committing similar offences, there was a sense of suspicion that all was not what it seemed.
Lewis Hamilton, George Russell, Oscar Piastri and Gasly’s teammate Franco Colapinto were also hauled before the stewards and were likewise issued penalties.
And when Alpine doubled down and stated that “the FIA and FOM, but not the Race Stewards, were aware in advance of the race that there was an issue with the timing loops in the pitlane,” the sport’s governing body initially responded with a ‘strong refutation’ of the claim.
But when Formula One Management provided evidence that the measuring system was “inaccurate and overestimated the speed,” the Enstone-based squad was granted its Right to Review.
The first instance is that there might well be some very red faces down at F1, with Gasly reverted back to third position, Alpine obviously delighted.
The penalties were handed in good faith by the stewards, who were said to have even consulted race control to confirm no timing system issues were present.
This, in effect, places the FIA in the clear of any embarrassment, as it essentially did not know any better, as it, as always, relied on the official timing system to be correct, which, on this occasion, it was not.
And as one FIA source told Motorsport Week: “I’m sure you are aware that FOM manages the timing system, the FIA is a data end user of that system.”
With this in mind, if any rotten tomatoes were being primed for a lobbing towards the FIA, they ought to be redirected, with the FIA grabbing a fistful themselves.
However, FOM was defended from a likely, but also unlikely, source, in the form of Alpine Managing Director, Steve Nielsen – a former F1 Sporting Director, who praised the owning of the error.
“I mean, all credit, and I should probably have said this at the beginning, all credit to FOMA and the FIA,” he told media, including Motorsport Week. “They’ve been completely transparent with us from the beginning. And while we had our suspicions, we didn’t know the details of what had gone on until we got the report from FOM on Wednesday afternoon.
“And so, you know, FOM and the FIA are well-run companies. I was at FOM for many years, as some of you know. And they equip themselves to a very high standard almost all the time. In this instance, there was an error. They didn’t try and hide it, which was appreciated. And I’m sure they’ll learn from it and move on.”
The potential chain of events after F1’s timing issue discovery
With Gasly reverted back to third position, Red Bull and McLaren quickly stated their intention to appeal the result, with Mercedes boss Toto Wolff also confirming that the Silver Arrows had spoken to their lawyers about Russell’s penalty.
Partisan feeling aside, social media now has an upswell of fans making the case that with Gasly reinstated into his third place, what else can we appeal?
Hill-Schumacher, 1994? Prost-Senna, 1990? The decision to reinstate Gasly was surely made with the knowledge that it was effectively placing fans’ collective hands on the key in Pandora’s box.
Not only that, it has appeared to have done so with teams not even directly involved.
“I would support them in that, absolutely,” Williams boss James Vowles told Sky Sports F1 of Red Bull and McLaren’s appeals.
“I’m surprised we have the reinstatement, being frank about it. It doesn’t really affect us personally, he [Gasly] was ahead of us whichever you do that. Obviously, it’s a championship position.
“I think it’s more it creates a bit of a mess now. What do you do with George? What do you do with Piastri, who also, in that circumstance, should have been on the podium as a result? That’s the mess I don’t feel comfortable about.”
Race classification being decided long after the action has ended is also historic in F1, though, for obvious reasons, it is avoided wherever possible. Pandora’s box of possibilities, however, has always remained firmly shut.
But just like the lost ark from Indiana Jones, someone has chosen to take a peek inside, and the results are terrifying. We now run the risk of seeing multiple appeals that will all have to be heard. A critical moment is fast approaching: shut down politically active teams governed by self-interest, or indulge them in battles where no one wins.
FOM’s timing error may yet lead to a legal horror that rivals what those unfortunate fictional souls witnessed in the lost ark. All because of a timing line error. Ouch.