Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff expressed his frustration and shared that the team is exploring legal options following Alpine’s successful 2026 F1 Monaco GP Right of Review request.
How Alpine’s Right of Review affects Mercedes
At the 2026 F1 Monaco GP, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly had taken the chequered flag in P3 but was demoted to P7. The Frenchman had been hit with two five-second penalties for speeding in the pit lane on separate occasions during the race. Following the race, Alpine had issued a Right of Review request. After two meetings with the FIA, the review was successful. Hence, Gasly’s podium was reinstated.
Alpine’s successful Right of Review had cast doubt over the other pitlane speeding offences from the 2026 F1 Monaco GP.
Mercedes’ George Russell was another one of five who had also been penalised by the same faulty timing loop at the 2026 F1 Monaco GP. However, while Gasly’s penalties were added post-race, Russell has served his penalty on Sunday. During the Safety Car, Mercedes made an error, and Russell failed to serve his initial penalty. He was then given a harsher drive-through penalty, as per the regulations. This ultimately took him out of contention for a podium finish. Despite running in P3 prior to the penalty, he finished the race in P12.
Wolff on the approved Right of Review
Russell’s situation at the 2026 F1 Monaco GP is the main reason for Mercedes and Wolff’s discontent with the FIA’s decision. He argues that the penalty not only impacted the Briton’s race but also his championship. Following the 2026 F1 Monaco GP, Russell, who was initially P2 in the Drivers’ Championship, had dropped to P3.
“Well, it was a very unfortunate situation, and clearly we can all learn from that because that wasn’t something that just came up on Sunday, that suddenly 10 cars were in breach of pit lane speeding. It’s something that was flagged before.
“For us as a team, and especially for George, massive implications. He had a difficult qualifying session. But he moved all the way back up there. And clearly, without the penalty, without us not serving it correctly, it would have been a totally different outcome for his race. Whether he would have made the podium or just not is a different question, but a different outcome would have had an impact on his championship situation. And that’s why it’s unfortunate.”
Mercedes is discussing legal options
Wolff then shared that Mercedes is in conversations with its legal team regarding the matter. The Austrian added that he hopes the FIA will figure out a way to compensate Russell. He also hopes to resolve the matter before the 2026 F1 Barcelona-Catalunya GP.
“Now we are assessing, as we speak, what the Gasly situation does for George. Obviously, there are certain timing restraints. We wouldn’t appeal the Gasly result, certainly. But we would like the FIA to look at what could be the remedies for George’s race. And I don’t think that there is… I think we are having some timing limitations and some other legal constraints, but definitely something to… You know, we have a reason to be annoyed for. And I wish we could have had those conversations before the race on Sunday.”
What Russell could have achieved at the 2026 F1 Monaco GP
While Wolff knows it is unrealistic for the FIA to change Russell’s 2026 F1 Monaco GP result, Mercedes is still discussing with their legal team to regain as much as possible. The Mercedes team principal predicts that the six-time race winner lost 20 seconds due to the drive-through penalty and he hopes Russell will be compensated for it.
“Well, I think talk is definitely going forward. But we also need to look at, you know, I just left when we were on the phone with our lawyers to look at what can we do for George. A drive-through, if it didn’t happen at the end, is equivalent of 20-second race time. What would 20 seconds race time have meant for his result? Do we think that we realistically have a position, a chance of reverting the result? I don’t think so. But we definitely have to give it a go if we see that there is a millimetre of chance to do so and bring him back to whatever it was before. We’ve calculated P3 or before.“
