Martin Brundle says penalties for speeding in the pit lane are “necessarily brutal” after five drivers were hit with six speeding penalties at the Monaco Grand Prix.
After all, says the former F1 driver, if leeway is given for 60.1 kph, then 60.2 is only a little more and so the sliding scale gets muddied.
Martin Brundle defends Monaco pit lane speeding penalties
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Lewis Hamilton, George Russell, Oscar Piastri, Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly all received five-second time penalties for speeding in the Monaco pit lane, with Gasly hit with two.
While the margins were as small as 60.1 kph, Gasly recorded 60.4 kph during his second offence.
Brundle reckons, as with car weight, pit lane speeding penalties have to adhere to the speed limit set out ahead of the Grand Prix weekend.
“There was a significant sub-story to this whole race,” the former F1 driver wrote in his column for Sky Sports F1, “that of speeding in the pit lane.
“A few drivers had fallen foul of that even just doing their reconnaissance laps to the grid. It was a situation which had been noted between the race director and teams during practice too.
“Pit lane speed is measured by distance between various loops in the track surface, and as always drivers were finding a way to cut into the pits slightly early to save a metre or two. Because of the tight confines, the speed limit in Monaco is reduced from 80 kph to 60 kph.
“Despite doing everything right, drivers were being penalised for 60.1 kph.
“Rules are rules because if that’s fine, then 60.2 is only a fraction more and so must be fine too. Just like when a car is half a kilo underweight, in F1 it’s necessarily brutal.”
The pit lane speeding penalties
Lewis Hamilton — 5-second penalty
George Russell — 5-second penalty
Oscar Piastri — 5-second penalty
Pierre Gasly — two 5-second penalties
Franco Colapinto — 5-second penalty
Heartbreak for George Russell and Pierre Gasly
The penalties had little to no effect on Hamilton, who served his penalty under a Safety Car, nor Oscar Piastri or Franco Colapinto, but it hurt both George Russell and Pierre Gasly.
Russell did not serve his penalty when he pitted under the Safety Car after Lance Stroll crashed, as Mercedes’ jackman immediately lifted his W17 and his mechanics jumped in to change his tyres.
That meant Russell was given a drive-through penalty for failing to serve his five-second time penalty properly.
Having emerged from the drive-through at the very back of the field in 15th place, Russell ultimately ended up 12th as he was promoted by penalties for Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez.
“It would ruin George Russell’s race,” Brundle continued.
“During his pit stop under the Safety Car, the Mercedes team were obliged to serve his five-second speeding penalty before commencing a tyre change, and at the same time all cars were obliged to come through the pit lane to allow the crashed car in the last corner to be cleared.
“There was confusion as he queued up behind his teammate and he would receive an effective 20-second drive-through penalty, which would put him at the back of the bunched-up field.”
The speeding penalties also caused heartbreak for Pierre Gasly as the Alpine driver crossed the line in third place for what he believed was his first podium of the championship. But once his two penalties were applied, 10 seconds in total, he dropped to seventh.
Alpine has exercised its Right to Review regarding the penalties, with mechanics seen in the pit lane post-race measuring the distance with a trundle wheel.
Brundle doesn’t believe anything will come of the Right to Review.
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“It was arguably even more painful for Pierre Gasly in his Alpine,” said Brundle, “who was both infuriated and heartbroken to receive two pit lane speeding penalties 20 minutes apart, for 60.1 kph and 60.4 kph.
“He would cross the finish line in third place which would normally mean a trip to the legendary royal podium, but 10 seconds of penalties would demote him to seventh through no fault of his own.
“The team have demanded a right of review, but I suspect that’ll change nothing.”
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