Red Bull warns F1 after losing podium finish: 'Difficult for the sport'

On Friday, it was announced that Alpine’s right of review concerning the two time penalties handed to Pierre Gasly in Monaco was successful. He received them for speeding in the pit lane, which Alpine found strange. The French team managed to submit new evidence and point the FIA to a calculation error. The stewards gave Gasly his P3 back, causing Hadjar to lose his first podium with Red Bull. It was also difficult to understand for the teams that received the same penalties.

Because they served the penalty during the race, there was nothing they could do about it. Mercedes is also considering legal action to be taken. “Even if we leave the podium aside for a moment, it’s clear that it’s difficult for viewers at home, for television, to understand when penalties are handed out that cannot actually be appealed,” Mekies began, speaking to the German branch of Sky Sports.

“Some penalties were served during the race, and those cannot be appealed. And then there are penalties that can still be appealed,” he continued. “It even happens that such penalties are subsequently overturned. That makes things difficult for the sport as a whole,” the Frenchman believes. Red Bull and McLaren stated on Friday that they intended to appeal the decision.

At the moment, the Austrian team has plenty to focus on, as the RB22 is completely out of sorts and Verstappen spoke of a tough day on Friday. In the long runs the gaps between teams were large. Red Bull hopes to have taken a step from Friday to Saturday to stay somewhat close to the competition. “We come together before every race with the entire team and consult both here at the circuit and at the factory,” Mekies said.

That Hadjar as a result lost his first Red Bull Racing podium was discussed, but Mekies made it clear the meeting was not held specifically for that. “That’s the normal course of action, nothing special at the moment. It’s true, of course, that there are many things going on right now, such as changes in the regulations. That’s why it’s good to regularly bring everyone back to the same level of information,” Mekies concluded. Follow Qualifying with GPblog's liveblog here!