Mercedes have withdrawn their Right of Review submission relating to the penalty served by George Russell during the Monaco Grand Prix, the team confirmed in an official statement posted to social media.
The submission had been lodged in relation to a pitlane speeding penalty handed to Russell, which Mercedes believed had a significant impact on his eventual race result. The team’s decision to seek a review followed the FIA’s separate decision to rescind a time penalty issued to Pierre Gasly, prompting Mercedes to explore “all available options” to address what they considered an inconsistency in how penalties from the Monaco weekend had been handled.
In their statement, Mercedes explained the timeline behind the application. “We had a limited time window in which to apply for the Right of Review during the race weekend in Barcelona, and did so in order to reserve our position in this regard,” the team said. They added that the decision to pursue the review was a means of safeguarding their options while further discussions took place with motorsport’s governing bodies.
Mercedes said that subsequent talks with the FIA and Formula One had persuaded them that further pursuit of the case was no longer necessary. “Our subsequent collaborative discussion with FIA and Formula One has shown their determination to review the unique circumstances arising from the Monaco Grand Prix and to proactively address the factors that caused them,” the statement read. “In the face of this clear determination, we have concluded that further pursuit of our Right of Review application will not serve our team or the sport and thus we have withdrawn our submission.”
The decision suggests Mercedes received sufficient assurances from the FIA and F1 that the underlying issues behind the Monaco penalty controversy would be addressed more broadly, rather than through an individual case-by-case review process. The statement was posted to the team’s official Instagram account and had attracted more than 3,600 likes and dozens of comments within minutes of being shared.
