McLaren and Red Bull face FIA court as Pierre Gasly Monaco appeal to be heard

McLaren and Red Bull will today present their cases to the FIA's International Court of Appeal against the stewards' decision to cancel Pierre Gasly's Monaco penalties, and reinstate his podium. 

Gasly was one of a number of drivers to pick up pit-lane speeding penalties during June's Monaco GP, including McLaren's Oscar Piastri, Mercedes' George Russell and Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton - with Gasly earning two five-second sanctions for two offences. 

The Frenchman finished third on the road but was demoted by 10 seconds as he had not served either of the sanctions, with this being applied to his elapsed race time in the normal manner. He was provisionally classified in seventh place, with Red Bull's Isack Hadjar, Piastri, and Racing Bulls pair Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad all moving up one place - with Hadjar taking to the podium.

Alpine quickly signalled its intention to launch a right of review into the stewards' decision to hand the penalties to Gasly, and it was found that an error by the official timekeepers in marking the distance of the pit-lane had been made, with the average speed, 60kph in this case, being measured by the speed equalling distance over time equation as opposed to a single measuring point on pit entry or pit exit.

This finding was deemed by the stewards to meet the "significant, relevant and new" threshold required by right of review submissions, with the incorrect distance being information not available to the stewards at the time of their initial decision to hand Gasly the penalties.

With Alpine passing the first hurdle for the right of review, it then progressed to the stewards reconsidering their decision, with the panel ultimately deciding to expunge Gasly's twin penalties, and thus reinstating him to third place - his first podium of the season.

However, during the race, Piastri served his five-second sanction by being held in the pits, and without which, he would have finished third on the road ahead of Gasly, with Mercedes' George Russell earning a drive-through penalty after failing to serve his five-second speeding penalty correctly, and dropping to 12th in the results after serving this. 

Crucially, McLaren and Mercedes could not appeal the penalties to Piastri and Russell, respectively, as they had already been served before the end of the race. 

No mechanism exists in the F1 rulebook to allow stewards to cancel the effects of a penalty which has already been served. Alpine was able to do so with regard to Gasly's two five-second time penalties as he had not served either of them, and was intending not to pit to serve them, with the intention instead being to add the 10-seconds to his elapsed race time in the traditional manner.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff confirmed the team was "on the phone to the lawyers" shortly after the announcement that Gasly's penalty was rescinded, but the team elected to take no further action.

However, McLaren and Red Bull, have. 

Both teams lodged their intention to appeal decisions 1 and 2 of document 99 from the Monaco Grand Prix, the ones that cancel Gasly's penalties, with the FIA International Court of Appeal set to hear their case in Paris later today.

The hearing, which is not open to the public or the media, is due to start at 9am local time. 

RacingNews365 will provide the verdict of the Court of Appeal when the decision is publicly communicated.