The 2026 Monaco Grand Prix was held on June 7, yet its official final result will not be confirmed until at least September.
The FIA International Court of Appeal heard a complaint from McLaren and Red Bull earlier this week, with the dispute centred on speeding penalties issued during the race.
The controversy stems from the FIA’s decision to remove two speeding penalties for Pierre Gasly after Alpine exercised their right to a review following the grand prix.
Gasly was among several drivers penalised for speeding in the pit lane entry during the Monaco GP, with George Russell, Oscar Piastri, Lewis Hamilton, and Franco Colapinto also affected.
All penalties except Gasly’s were served during the race itself, while Gasly had two five-second time additions applied to his final elapsed race time.
Those two penalties dropped Gasly from third on the road, and off the podium, all the way down to seventh in the provisional classification.
It was subsequently discovered that the speeding offences were caused by a timing loop error at the start of the pit lane entry, leading to Alpine’s successful right of review for their driver.
Following the review, Gasly’s penalties were rescinded, his podium reinstated, and Isack Hadjar dropped from third to fourth, with Piastri demoted to fifth in the revised standings.
The core issue is that while Gasly’s penalties were removed retrospectively, the same could not be applied to drivers who had already served their punishments during the race, despite those penalties also being issued as a result of the timing error.
McLaren and Red Bull lodged their intentions to appeal back in June, with the formal hearing taking place in Paris, and the outcome now expected within two to three weeks.
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella addressed the dual motivation behind the appeal when speaking to media at Zandvoort, explaining the broader implications for the sport.
“We go to the hearing at the International Court of Appeal with, if you want, a double intent,” Stella said. “The first intent is more general than the interest of McLaren. We think that the process that happened after the race in Monaco is a process that needs to be reviewed, because of fairness for all competitors.”
Stella continued by highlighting the specific sporting consequences McLaren faced as a result of the inconsistent penalty application during and after the race.
“The second aspect is the interest of McLaren ourselves. We not only get this level of concern, but we also got materially penalised for having served a penalty that is not appealable, and this even cost us points in the championship.”
The McLaren team principal concluded by outlining both the sporting integrity argument and the commercial stakes involved for his team in pursuing the appeal.
“So there’s, I think, a general interest for Formula 1 and the sport and the integrity of the sport, and there’s a material interest for McLaren in terms of our championship impact. So these are the two points of view, the two perspectives that we would like to pursue and seek clarification for in the coming International Court of Appeal.”
The final Monaco GP result, when it does arrive, will represent one of the most delayed official classifications in recent Formula 1 history.