Mekies rejects Brundle ‘dangerous precedent’ theory as Gasly Monaco podium stripped

Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies countered a theory presented by Martin Brundle after Pierre Gasly saw his Monaco podium removed, as Isack Hadjar returned to the top three.

McLaren and Red Bull were successful at the FIA’s International Court of Appeal, which overturned Gasly’s retracted Monaco Grand Prix time penalties. Rather than a “dangerous precedent” being set, Mekies argued the opposite is true when it comes to non-appealable penalties in Formula 1, following the court verdict.

Laurent Mekies welcomes FIA court Pierre Gasly verdict

Gasly falls from the Monaco podium, back to P7, after his pit-lane speeding time penalties, which had been rescinded, were reinstated in an FIA International Court of Appeal ruling, three months later.

Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar therefore returns to the Monaco podium.

“Very happy that the court reinstated Isack’s podiums,” said Mekies in reaction, when speaking with Sky F1.

“It’s important for Isack, but we also did it because we felt it was important for the sport. We don’t really think we want to go racing and having to worry after the race about was the speed limit check correct or not correct.

“We felt that a lot of cars have complied with the regulations in Monaco of the speed limits, and some cars were overspeeding. Some of them had served the penalties. Some of those didn’t.

“It was important that we have a consistent way to go racing, so we are happy with the result of the court. It was the very reason why we took it to the Court of Appeal, because we felt it was important for the sport, and of course for Isack. It was his first podium with us.”

However, the verdict does create a talking point over timeframes between an event ending and results changing, with three months having passed since Monaco, and the results now changed.

This formed Brundle’s question to Mekies after his opening remarks.

“What does this mean going forward? Does it set a dangerous precedent of going back and changing results?”

Mekies argued that theory.

“I think it’s the other way around, Martin,” Mekies challenged.

“I think it will certainly avoid, that we take as a habit, to challenge post-race decisions that are not appealable, which is effectively what happened in the case of the Monaco pit-lane speed.

“So I think it’s good news in terms of seeing the final race result at the moment where the race is finishing.

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“We have some penalties that are applied during the race, for a number of occasions, you know, if you have collisions, if you have speeding in the pit-lane, and these penalties are not appealable, and we all raced based on these penalties.

“So we knew that Pierre in front of Isack had that penalty to serve, and we knew that penalty was not appealable. So the fact that it was challenged after the race was a dangerous precedent, because it’s a non-appealable penalty, and we raced according to that.

“So I think it’s good for the fans, it’s good for the sport that we will have even more confidence tomorrow to see the final result of the race when the race is finishing.”

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