Mercedes withdraw Monaco Grand Prix appeal

Mercedes have withdrawn their appeal against the result of the Monaco Grand Prix.

The championship leaders had lodged a ‘right of review’ request with the FIA after Formula 1’s governing body overturned a 10-second penalty for Alpine’s Pierre Gasly for speeding in the pit lane.

Mercedes driver George Russell was among the five drivers to commit the same offence, which led to the Briton dropping from third to 12th in the final results.

In Alpine’s appeal, it emerged that officials had measured the pit lane speed limit incorrectly, by using a longer distance for the pit lane than it was possible to drive.

Separate cases, in which McLaren and Red Bull have lodged protests with the FIA Court of Appeal, are ongoing.

Mercedes’ right of review had been due to be heard on 20 June, but the team have decided not to press forward with the case on a number of grounds.

They concluded there was no viable mechanism for restoring Russell to where he could have finished, and it would not serve anybody to drag it all on.

Russell’s case was complicated because his fall down the order was precipitated by a cascading series of events.

He was given the penalty for pit-lane speeding – by just 0.1km/h – before a safety-car period caused by a crash for Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.

Russell pitted to change tyres under the safety car but in the confusion, failed to serve the penalty.

When the safety car pulled in, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc crashed, which led to the race being suspended under a red flag.

During the race stoppage, it was announced that Russell had been given a drive-through penalty for not serving the five-second penalty correctly. He pleaded with officials not to make him serve that penalty when the race resumed and to discuss it afterwards, because the number of penalties suggested something was wrong.

They rejected his argument, and when the race restarted, Russell came in again to serve the drive-through penalty, which is what dropped him out of third place.

Under F1’s rules, Mercedes were able to ask only for a review of the five-second penalty, which they did not actually serve, regardless of whether it was incorrectly awarded.

The drive-through penalty was correctly awarded – on the basis he did fail to serve a penalty. Mercedes have looked into the legal complications around this and concluded there is no remedy for that available to them.

The initial right of review request, lodged at last weekend’s Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, was made to buy Mercedes time to analyse the situation, as the FIA rules dictate a limited time period for teams to make right of review requests.

There is then a longer period during which a party can decide whether to continue with them.

A Mercedes spokesperson said: “It was important for us to explore all available options to address the impact of George’s pit-lane speeding penalty on his race result.

“We had a limited time window in which to apply for the right of review during the race weekend in Barcelona, and did so in order to reserve our position in this regard.

”Our subsequent collaborative discussion with FIA and Formula 1 has shown their determination to review the unique circumstances arising from the Monaco Grand Prix and to proactively address the factors that caused them.

“In the face of this clear determination, we have concluded that further pursuit of our right of review application will not serve our team or the sport and thus we have withdrawn our submission.”