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The wave of pitlane speeding penalties that disrupted the Monaco Grand Prix — and ultimately cost Pierre Gasly a podium — is understood to stem from drivers effectively cutting the pitlane once inside it, creating a measurement anomaly that left several cars fractionally over the 60km/h speed limit.
Five drivers in total were handed five-second time penalties for pitlane speeding during the race: Lewis Hamilton, George Russell, Pierre Gasly, Oscar Piastri, and Franco Colapinto. The issue was not entirely without warning — Alpine and Williams had already been fined for pit lane speeding in FP3, and in practice sessions, four drivers including Russell, Kimi Antonelli, Alex Albon, and Fernando Alonso had picked up penalties for exceeding the limit by as little as 0.5km/h.
Albon was warned late in the race that the penalties were connected to "cutting the line around the Cadillac area." Cadillac occupies a position at the end of the pitlane — a section that is slightly more open this year compared to previous configurations, where barriers funnelled cars more tightly on both sides. That extra space appears to have invited drivers to drift over the white line that marks the boundary of the fast lane, something that occurs at both ends of the pits at Monaco.
While crossing that line is not prohibited under the regulations, it creates an unexpected technical problem. In Formula 1, pitlane speed is not measured by camera or radar gun — it is calculated using electronic timing loops embedded in the pitlane surface, cross-referenced with the FIA transponders fitted to each car. The system records the time a car takes to travel between multiple loops, and from that calculates its speed.
The key issue is that the fast lane distance forms the basis of that speed calculation. If a driver cuts the white line — even marginally — the car covers a slightly shorter distance than the system expects. A car travelling at exactly 60km/h would therefore complete that reduced distance in fractionally less time, and be logged as moving marginally above the speed limit. This explains the razor-thin margins observed throughout the weekend.
It is understood the matter was raised between teams and the FIA during the race weekend, and some drivers were advised to pay close attention to their positioning in the pitlane before the race got underway.
The penalties carried serious consequences for the final standings. Russell, who had been running fourth, failed to serve his five-second penalty correctly during a double-stacked Mercedes stop under the safety car — prompted by Lance Stroll's crash at the final corner — and was subsequently handed a drivethrough penalty. A late restart bunched the field, leaving him with no opportunity to recover, and he ultimately finished 13th.
Gasly's situation was arguably even more costly. The Alpine driver crossed the line third on the road, but a second speeding penalty — picked up while running through the pitlane behind the safety car — combined with his original infringement added 10 seconds to his race time, dropping him to seventh. His strong run in Monaco had underlined Alpine's growing momentum in 2026, making the penalty all the more painful.
What began as a subtle track geometry detail ended up reshaping the top ten — a reminder of how unforgiving Monaco can be, even when a car never leaves the pitlane.
He’s a software engineer with a deep passion for Formula 1 and motorsport. He co-founded Formula Live Pulse to make live telemetry and race insights accessible, visual, and easy to follow.