Alpine sends trophy back to Red Bull and considers taking case to CAS

During the Monaco Grand Prix, Pierre Gasly received two five-second time penalties for exceeding the pit lane speed limit. Although the French driver crossed the line in third, he was dropped to seventh as a result. Isack Hadjar was then classified third, with Oscar Piastri finishing fourth.

Alpine subsequently challenged the penalties Gasly received through a Right of Review. It emerged that Formula One Management (FOM) had used an incorrect distance between the timing points in the pit lane when calculating his speed. The stewards therefore decided on June 12 to overturn Gasly's penalties. This meant he was promoted back to the podium, while Hadjar and Piastri were relegated to P4 and P5, respectively.

That decision sparked significant debate, as Gasly was not the only driver to receive a penalty in Monaco after being affected by the incorrect measurements. Others had already served their penalties during the race and could not regain the lost time. Red Bull Racing and McLaren then appealed to the FIA's International Court of Appeal, which ruled in favour of the two teams.

Alpine still disagrees with the ICA's decision, arguing the team is being punished despite committing no infringements.Moreover, the team finds it highly unusual that one of the judges, who Alpine claims had ties to McLaren, was involved. Flavio Briatore called this 'strange' at the team representatives' press conference in Italy last Friday.

GPblog has already reported that Alpine was considering appealing the ruling. This can no longer be done within the FIA, but the case can still be taken to the CAS. There is no deadline for filing a case at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, so the French team has time to carefully consider whether to proceed.

In any case, Alpine has already returned the trophy it previously received from Red Bull Racing to Milton Keynes. GPblog understands that the French team did so on the same day the unfavorable ruling was handed down.