The outcome of the Monaco Grand Prix was overturned more than two hours after the chequered flag fell. Isack Hadjar had provisionally secured his first Red Bull podium with a third-place finish in the initial race classification.
He had actually crossed the line fourth on the road but was promoted to third after Pierre Gasly accumulated 10 seconds worth of penalties for speeding in the pitlane. However, the Frenchman then found himself under investigation by the stewards for a red flag infringement.
The stewards declared: "During the suspension of the Race, mechanics of the Red Bull Racing Team were working on car number 6, performing operations not permitted by Article B5.14.4.a. at 16:55. When queried about their works, they stopped working and reverted the car to its previous state without replacing any part."
Hadjar retained his second career podium after the stewards examined photographic evidence and consulted both team representatives and the FIA technical delegate, concluding that the car was in an identical condition to when it had entered the pits, as Red Bull had yet to replace their spark plugs/coils. However, not all drivers escaped punishment.
Sergio Perez was penalised for being out of position at the race restart following the red flag period, receiving a retrospective 10-second time penalty. The stewards explained: "Video evidence showed clearly that the front right wheel of Car 11 was outside the starting box. The standard penalty is applied." Consequently, Perez, who had crossed the line P10 to give Cadillac what appeared to be their maiden F1 point, drops from P10 to P15 as the final classified finisher.
Nevertheless, Hadjar's P3 finish is not yet entirely secure. Gasly felt he had been "robbed" of a podium spot and Alpine have requested the right to review the Frenchman's penalties. He was adjudged to have exceeded the 60km/h pitlane speed limit by 0.1km/h on one occasion and by 0.4km/h on another.
George Russell, Oscar Piastri and Lewis Hamilton were amongst the other drivers penalised for pitlane infringements. Gasly said: "I know for a fact that what's in the car is below the 60kph and I know on both occasions I've put it way before the line. That's probably the most simple setting you can put in a Formula 1 car."
"When you have three or four teams that get caught for speeding...hopefully it rings a bell to the guys that they need to check exactly what's going on because it's just not right." Should Alpine succeed in their review, Gasly could be reinstated and awarded the podium.
Speaking immediately after the race, Hadjar, who reported engine issues 19 laps in and claimed "something's going to explode", said: "We got off to a clean start. We were managing the race and then in the first 10 or 15 lap I started having massive drivability issues.
"If there's one track you don't want that, it's here. Yeah it was incredibly challenging having to do 60 laps like that. Even towards the end I was still lacking power on the restart. Honestly, on the restart I felt like I had a good start and then suddenly I lost two places."
"I knew the cars ahead had that penalty but I had limited power. I've never had to send it that much in my life through the corners to stay within five seconds of Pierre [Gasly]. It's an outstanding weekend considering how it started in FP1 [with a crash]. I had no confidence to get back up. But we did it so yeah I'm happy."
Addressing the investigation, he told Sky Sports: "I trust my boys. They've been in F1 as long as I've been on Earth so I think they know what they're doing. If the podium doesn't stick, I'm OK with that as well. I have my podium, the emotions are still here, so it's OK."
Kimi Antonelli etched his name into the history books by becoming the youngest winner of the Monaco Grand Prix for Mercedes at just 19 years, nine months and 13 days old, surpassing Hamilton's long-standing record.
The Briton crossed the line in second place to secure consecutive podium finishes for Ferrari, 16 years after he himself became the youngest victor on the streets of Monte Carlo at the age of 23. Antonelli has now claimed five consecutive victories, while Russell's second straight pointless weekend leaves him a staggering 68 points adrift of his teenage team-mate.
Russell crossed the line in 13th place after being handed a drive-through penalty for incorrectly serving a five-second sanction that had been issued for speeding in the pit lane.
It was a chaotic race, briefly halted by a red flag with 10 laps remaining due to concerns over the track surface following a collision between Lance Stroll and Charles Leclerc. Four-time world champion Max Verstappen was also forced to retire at the start, while reigning champion Lando Norris saw his McLaren campaign cut short by an engine failure on lap 45 of 78.
