Alpine voice pity for rival F1 teams after major FIA decision: 'I'd be upset'

Alpine boss Steve Nielsen has claimed he would be "upset" if he were George Russell and Mercedes after Pierre Gasly's Monaco podium was reinstated.

The Right of Review lodged by Alpine after Gasly dropped to seventh in the final results from Monte Carlo after crossing the line in third place was ultimately successful, with his sanctions being rescinded. 

It was found by the stewards that there was a measuring error in the pit lane, which was actually 77cm shorter than anticipated, leading to the surprisingly high number of pit-lane speeding offences, five of which were 0.1kph over the 60kph limit. 

Gasly had not served either penalty during the race, meaning the 10-second penalty was simply added to his elapsed race time, but Mercedes' Russell served a drive-through after the red flag restart, dropping him to 12th in the final result. 

It is unclear whether Mercedes can lodge an appeal of a penalty served during the race - but Nielsen has taken pity on the Briton as he explained the series of events which led to Alpine noticing something was wrong in Monaco.

"We were aware that there had been issues with that part of the track on Friday and on Saturday, so we had some doubts about it," Nielsen told media, including RacingNews365. 

"Because of that, we'd already warned our drivers about it, and when we started seeing all these penalties come in the race, whilst we didn't know exactly what the error was, it was not unreasonable to think there was something wrong. 

"I've been doing this for a few years now, and across the season, you see pit-lane speeding, maybe four or five times in the whole year, so, to see six, three of which were ours in one afternoon, combined with what we knew about Friday and Saturday, you think: 'Okay, something is wrong.' 

"Whilst we didn't know exactly what it was, we were very sure there was something wrong.

"I feel for [the other penalised drivers], we'll never know, I guess, whether their pit lane speeding was real or not, so it is just really unfortunate situations, because with our case it was relatively easy to undo it.

"Because it was all added after the race, but with theirs, George Russell, for example, we will never really know, and I don't know how you would begin to unpick that. 

"Pit lane speeding is not appealable, which is why we use the Right of Review, and, I feel for them, and if I were in that position, I'd be upset."

Turning to Gasly gaining his third place back, Nielsen commented that he would have rather had the podium experience, which went to Hadjar over the points. 

"If I could trade, I'd have that podium moment over the points; that's the bit we can't ever get back," he said.

"It's a shame for Pierre, and it's a shame for the team, but we've got as much as we can. We've got the position and the points, which is nice, but if I could have, if I could choose, I'd have the podium, that emotion, which is what you can't get back. 

"Last year, we'd have killed for six points, and I think, leaving Monaco being disappointed with seventh, I was saying to myself: 'That shows how far we've come, because now we're,  we're disappointed with it.'"