The official result of the 2026 Monaco Grand Prix has been changed for a second time, almost three months after the race, bringing an extraordinary end to one of the season’s most complicated sporting controversies.
Pierre Gasly’s podium has once again disappeared from the record books after the FIA Court of Appeal overturned the decision that had previously reinstated his third-place finish. The Alpine driver originally crossed the line third but was dropped to seventh after receiving two five-second penalties for pit-lane speeding. A successful appeal in June temporarily restored his podium before McLaren and Red Bull challenged the decision.
GASLY’S PODIUM HAS BEEN STRIPPED AGAIN
The latest ruling means Gasly’s original penalties remain in force and his official classification returns to seventh.
The dispute centered on the measurement of Monaco’s pit lane. Alpine had argued that there was a 77-centimetre discrepancy between the officially measured distance and the shortest route a driver could legally take. The team successfully used that argument in its first appeal, claiming Gasly had not exceeded the speed limit when the alternative measurement was considered.
However, McLaren challenged the decision after its driver Oscar Piastri lost points under the same sporting circumstances. The appeal ultimately focused on consistency and whether the measurement parameters could be changed after competitors had already been informed of the rules during the race weekend.
ISACK HADJAR RETURNS TO THE PODIUM
The biggest winner from the latest ruling is Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar.
With Gasly pushed back to seventh, Hadjar officially returns to third place in the Monaco classification. Oscar Piastri also moves up to fourth, while Racing Bulls drivers Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad are promoted to fifth and sixth respectively.
The change could therefore have meaningful consequences for the drivers’ championship standings, particularly because the positions involve valuable points that were initially distributed differently after Gasly’s successful appeal.
For Hadjar, it is an especially significant boost. A podium at Monaco is now officially part of his 2026 season record, even though the achievement has been surrounded by months of legal and sporting uncertainty.
ALPINE STILL BELIEVES GASLY WAS WRONGFULLY PENALISED
Alpine has accepted the court’s decision but has made no secret of its disagreement.
The team continues to maintain that Gasly did not exceed the pit-lane speed limit during the race and believes the driver was unfairly punished. Nevertheless, Alpine acknowledged the authority of the judging panel and said its attention would now return to improving its performance on track.
For Gasly, however, the ruling is difficult to ignore. A result that once appeared to be a podium has now been removed again, leaving his sixth-place finish at the Chinese Grand Prix as his best official result of the 2026 campaign.
WHY THE MONACO DECISION MATTERS FOR F1
This saga highlights just how important consistency is when Formula 1 sporting regulations are applied.
The court’s reasoning was essentially that competitors had already been given the parameters governing the pit-lane limit during the Grand Prix weekend. Changing those parameters afterward could create an uneven playing field, even if a technical argument could be made that the original measurement was imperfect.
That principle could prove more important than Gasly’s individual result. Teams need certainty that the rules and measurements governing a race will remain consistent once the competition begins.
GASLY MUST NOW PUT MONACO BEHIND HIM
The timing makes the controversy even more frustrating for Gasly, with Formula 1 moving immediately into the Italian Grand Prix weekend.
Rather than carrying the disappointment of losing a podium for a second time, the Alpine driver will need to turn his attention toward producing a result that cannot be changed by an appeal months later.
Meanwhile, Hadjar can celebrate a podium that has survived the latest legal challenge.
The Monaco Grand Prix may have ended nearly three months ago, but its consequences are still being felt—and this time, the FIA has finally restored the classification that could become the definitive version of the result.
