Mercedes F1 star George Russell has spoken out regarding his team’s decision to withdraw their request for the FIA to review the stewards’ penalty decisions at this year’s Monaco Grand Prix.
When the chequered flag was waved in the principality on Sunday, June 7, the FIA stewards likely had no idea what lay ahead of them regarding the final race classification.
During the 78-lap race, a grand total of six drivers received penalties from the FIA stewards for exceeding the pitlane speed limit.
Ahead of the sixth round of the championship, the speed limit had been reduced to 60km/h, with multiple drivers including Pierre Gasly, Oscar Piastri and George Russell penalised for going just 0.1km/h over it.
Gasly received two penalties for pitlane speeding and so despite crossing the line in third on the day, the FIA added a 10-second penalty to his finishing time, demoting him to outside of the top three.
Alpine later submitted a right of review regarding the decision which they won, with the FIA rescinding his penalties, admitting they had measured the pitlane speed limiter incorrectly, and reinstating Gasly’s podium.
This left Mercedes driver Russell fuming given he had served his speeding penalty during the race before being slapped with an additional drive-through penalty as punishment for not serving the time appropriately.
Russell and Mercedes back down over Monaco penalties
At the Barcelona GP the following weekend, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff told media he had consulted Mercedes’ lawyers over the matter, determined to take the right course of action to bring justice for Russell.
But a week on from the FIA’s announcement that Gasly had been handed back the podium and Red Bull star Isack Hadjar had been demoted, Mercedes confirmed they had withdrawn their right of review.
In an Instagram story which now appears to have been removed from Russell’s official account, the British star reacted to Mercedes’ announcement, writing: “Having looked at every single possibility with the team to overturn the penalty from Monaco, unfortunately we did not have a case.
“It’s behind us now and we’re looking forward to maximising the upcoming double header.”
Mercedes team representatives had been summoned to attend an FIA hearing regarding the Monaco penalty issue this Saturday, but the team have now decided to complete a U-turn on their review.
Why did Mercedes submit FIA right of review request to then withdraw it?
In the statement released by Mercedes on Friday via their social media pages, the team revealed the factors at play behind their decision to withdraw the right of review request.
“We can confirm that we have withdrawn our right of review submission relating to the penalties received and served by George Russell during the Monaco Grand Prix,” the statement began.
“Following the decision to rescind Pierre Gasly’s time penalty, it was important for us to explore all available options to address the impact of George’s pitlane 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 One 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.”
So is the Monaco penalty madness finally over? No, not yet.
McLaren confirmed earlier this week that they are appealing the Monaco GP result after hearing of the FIA’s decision to reinstate Gasly’s podium, whilst Red Bull are also understood to be protesting.
As things stand, the current final classification for the 2026 Monaco GP can be found here, but we can’t promise the order won’t change again anytime soon.
