BARCELONA, June 13 (Reuters) – Pierre Gasly’s reinstatement to the Monaco Grand Prix podium should not have happened and opens a “can of worms” with no fair solution, 1997 Formula One champion Jacques Villeneuve said on Saturday.
Alpine driver Gasly was demoted to seventh after last Sunday’s race when two five-second penalties were applied for pitlane speeding, but the Frenchman was reinstated to third on Friday after his Renault-owned team won a review.
Formula One, which provides the timing, admitted a “measurement discrepancy”.
The decision meant others were demoted, including some who were handed and served time penalties during the race.
“The issue I have with this is that they (the teams) knew on Friday (there was a problem),” Villeneuve told Reuters at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix. “That’s why you have Friday and Saturday, to figure it out.
“Some of the teams took it easy, to not get caught (out). So they maybe lost a little bit of speed through the pitlane to be safe. So they end up being penalised if you give positions back. The other thing is, how do you give the positions back to the drivers who actually paid the penalty?
“There is no correct answer any more. In the first place they shouldn’t have given it back … It’s opened a can of worms for the future.”
‘NO RIGHT ANSWER’
Villeneuve said it would have been different if there had been a power cut or something beyond Formula One’s control.
“Someone will have to pay the price somewhere and that’s what’s difficult. There’s no right answer, no right thing to do,” added the Canadian.
“If I was like Gasly I would have fought to get the podium back. If I was like (McLaren’s Oscar) Piastri I would fight for him not to get it back.”
McLaren and Red Bull, who had Isack Hadjar on the podium after Gasly’s demotion but now miss out, have said they intend to appeal and have several days to file the paperwork.
Williams boss James Vowles said his team would support them.
“I’m surprised we have the reinstatement, being frank about it,” he told Sky Sports television. “It doesn’t really affect us personally, he (Gasly) was ahead of us whichever way you do that, I think it’s more it creates a bit of a mess now.”
“What do you do with George (Russell)? What you do with (Oscar) Piastri, who also in that circumstance should have been on the podium as a result. That’s the mess I don’t feel comfortable about.”
Mercedes driver Russell served a drive-through penalty during the race resulting from pitlane speeding, the same offence Gasly was punished for, and failed to score while McLaren’s Piastri served a time penalty at a pitstop.
The Australian dropped to fifth after Gasly’s reinstatement.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
