McLaren name 'double intent' factors as FIA International Court hearing begins

McLaren boss Andrea Stella has named the "double intent" the team holds going into the hearing at the FIA's International Court of Appeal over Pierre Gasly's Monaco penalties being rescinded.

The hearing was due to start at 9am local time in Paris, with McLaren and Red Bull appealing against decisions 1 and 2 of document 99 from the Monaco Grand Prix, where the stewards rescinded both the five-second time penalties awarded to Gasly for pit-lane speeding after Alpine had lodged a right of review.

It was found during this right of review that the official timekeepers had made an error in measuring the distance of the pit-lane, with this information being unavailable to the stewards at the time of their original decisions to hand Gasly his five-second penalties, and thus meeting the "relevant, significant, and new" threshold required by the right of review process.

The penalties being rescinded meant Gasly was reinstated to the third place he took on the road, having been demoted to seventh, with Isack Hadjar of Red Bull, McLaren's Oscar Piastri, and Racing Bulls pair Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad all shuffling down one spot.

However, Gasly was not the only driver to be found to have broken the 60kph pit-lane speed limit in place in Monaco, with the likes of Piastri, Mercedes' George Russell, and Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton also being pinged - with Gasly being done so twice, hence his twin five-second penalties.

Piastri and Hamilton served their penalties during the race, as did Russell, who was later awarded a drive-through penalty for not serving his correctly, and eventually finished in 12th after taking this harsher penalty.

Crucially, no mechanism exists in the rulebook to wipe the effects of a penalty already served, meaning Piastri and Russell's sanctions could not be removed, whereas both Gasly and his team-mate Colapinto did not serve their penalties, with the sanctions being added to their elapsed race time after the race, something drivers often elect to choose over losing more time in making another, unnecessary pit stop. 

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff confirmed shortly after the decision to reinstate Gasly's podium was announced that Mercedes was "on the phone to lawyers" regarding Russell's situation, but the team elected not to proceed, whilst McLaren and Red Bull have.

Speaking ahead of the beginning of the hearing, which is being held behind closed doors, McLaren team principal Stella outlined the twin factors the team was seeking clarification over.

"We go to the hearing at the International Court of Appeal with a double intent," Stella told media, including RacingNews365. 

"The first intent is more general than the interest of McLaren. We think that the process that happened after the race in Monaco is a process that needs to be reviewed because, from fairness for all competitors, the fact that the penalty was removed introduces some significant elements of concern.

"We would like to take the opportunity to ask the International Court of Appeal for a clarification of this aspect.

"There's obviously more related to this case; we can go into the technical aspects of how the pit limiter was calculated, but for me, it is more the fairness and the principle that needs to be clarified and possibly reinstated, because I think what happened sets some significant concerns. 

"The second aspect is the interest to McLaren ourselves. We not only have this level of concern, but we also got materially penalised for having served a penalty that is not appealable, and this even cost us points in the championship. 

"So there's a general interest for Formula 1, and the integrity of the sport, and there's a material interest for McLaren in terms of our championship impact. 

"So these are the two points of view, the two perspectives that we would like to pursue and seek clarification on in the coming International Court of Appeal."