Monaco GP complaints: Oscar Piastri explains why McLaren protested the result of the race after Pierre Gasly was restored to the podium | F1 News

Oscar Piastri says he is concerned that a “false precedent” will be set as the main reason for McLaren’s appeal of the Monaco Grand Prix result.

McLaren and Red Bull are protesting the classification of races from Monaco through the FIA ​​International Court of Appeal – the highest and final court of appeal for motor sports – after Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was returned to the podium.

Earlier this month, Alpine successfully appealed Gasly’s speeding penalties and provided evidence that the distance to Monaco’s pit lane was incorrect, thus the drivers’ speed was measured incorrectly.

As a result, Gasly dropped back to third and relegated Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar to fourth, McLaren’s Piastri to fifth, and Racing Bulls duo Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad dropped to sixth and seventh.

However, other drivers including Piastri, George Russell, Lewis Hamilton and Franco Colapinto rode during the Safety Car to serve their penalties, so they could not appeal like Alpine did with Gasly.

The FIA ​​is yet to announce a date for the Paris appeal but it is likely to take several weeks.

“I have never seen a race like this, where there are so many pit lane penalties, and I especially knew that I was not fast,” said Piastri.

“But the method is always there, you have a penalty, you can’t argue with it in most cases, which I think in 99 percent of things is a good thing.

“The risk we have now is any time a team or a driver feels that the penalty may be wrong, or they have the opportunity to change it, you go through this whole cycle where we still don’t know the official results of the race after a month, which is huge.

Gasly was the only front runner not to have a pick after his speeding penalties were served, so 10 seconds at the start were added to his final lap which dropped him from third to seventh.

Sky Sports F1Martin Brundle suggested that the success of Alpine’s appeal could lead to the teams avoiding conflict in certain situations to argue or dispute their post-race case, which Piastri reiterated.

He said: “That’s right [McLaren’s appeal] nothing against Pierre or Alpine. The other thing is that if we didn’t know that some things didn’t go the way we were playing, we would have taken different decisions in the race, which we think are really wrong.”

Gasly: ​​Mistakes must be corrected

Gasly claimed his third trophy earlier this week after Red Bull and Hadjar held it for more than two weeks.

The pair sparred at Thursday’s press conference at this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix before Gasly suggested McLaren and Red Bull’s claims should have nothing to do with his podium result.

“The good thing about this game is that we don’t want to see that happen again in the future, it was a mistake that happened that weekend, and it is important that we all learn from it,” he said.

“At the same time, a mistake happened but it can be corrected because it was given in the wrong way, so if that is the case in the situation we are in, if you have the opportunity to correct it, it is the right thing to do as a game.

“I was very happy with the actions and the result of the decision after the race. From McLaren, Oscar, the situation of George, I completely understand that because of their performance I have nothing to do with their results, but they probably feel some kind of injustice in what was done to them.

“But that has nothing to do with Alpine or our race, and that’s what they need to fix on their side. But I think if you can fix a mistake that’s been made, it’s the right way to deal with it to get back to it, and that’s what I’d like to see in the future.”

Piastri added: “I agree with Pierre’s point that if something can be fixed, I can see why it can’t be fixed.”

“But it also sets a false precedent because you can end up with everyone not paying their fines, and then you’re arguing about it weeks later, which is not something anyone wants to see. It’s a difficult situation with two sides to it.”

Austrian GP live schedule for Sky Sports F1

Friday June 26
8.50am: F3 Practice
10am: F2 Practice
12pm: Austrian GP Practice One (session starts at 12.30pm)
1.55pm: F3 Qualification
2.30pm: Club management press conference
2.50pm: F2 Qualifying
3.35pm: Austrian GP Practice Two (session starts at 4pm)
5.15pm: The F1 Show

Saturday June 27
9am: F3 Sprint
11.15am: Austrian GP Practice Three (session starts at 11.30am)
1.10pm: F2 Sprint
2.15pm: Austrian GP qualifying build-up*
3pm: AUSTRIAN GP QUALIFYING*
5pm: Ted’s Worthy Booklet

Sunday June 28
7.35am: F3 Feature Race
9.05am: F2 Feature Race
10.50am: Porsche Supercup
12.30pm: Austrian GP build-up: Sunday’s Grand Prix*
2pm: THE AUSTRIAN GRAND PRIX*
4pm: Austrian GP reaction: Checkered flag
5pm: Ted’s notebook

*Also on Sky Sports Main Event

The European Formula 1 season continues with the Austrian Grand Prix this weekend, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports NOW – no contract, cancel anytime