Sergio Perez was stripped of what had briefly been Cadillac’s first Formula 1 points finish after a post‑race 10‑second time penalty at the 2026 Monaco Grand Prix dropped him from P10 to P15.
The decision followed a sequence of procedural breaches: race stewards recorded Perez as having pulled into P16 on the grid rather than his assigned P18, issued a drive‑through during the race for being out of position at the start, and found his front‑right wheel outside the starting box at the restart. The stewards also reprimanded him for making a practice start in the wrong position during his reconnaissance lap to the grid.
The penalties were among several that altered official finishing positions around the Principality. Pierre Gasly crossed the line in P3 for Alpine but was hit with two separate five‑second penalties for speeding in the pit lane and was demoted to P7. Alpine has formally requested a Right of Review from the FIA over Gasly’s case.
Other in‑race and post‑race penalties reshuffled the order further. George Russell took a five‑second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane and later a drive‑through for failing to serve that earlier penalty correctly; he finished P12. Nico Hülkenberg received a 10‑second penalty for causing a collision after tagging Carlos Sainz at the hairpin and classified P13. Franco Colapinto served a five‑second time penalty for pit‑lane speeding and was cleared after an investigation into an alleged collision with Sainz.
Lewis Hamilton was shown a five‑second penalty for speeding in the pit lane and was separately investigated for an alleged Safety Car infringement. Stewards decided no further action was necessary in the Safety Car case, and Hamilton kept the P2 that he held at the flag.
The numerical scale of the sanctions underlines how small procedural errors can carry large consequences at Monaco. Gasly’s two five‑second penalties — applied after he had taken the chequered flag in third — removed a podium that had seemed secure over 78 laps, and Perez’s cumulative sanctions transformed Cadillac’s result from a landmark top‑10 finish into a mid‑pack classification.
Kimi Antonelli took the victory, claiming his fifth win of the season; on the podium he summed up his race simply as “incredible.” Gasly, who lost his third place on time penalties, later told team personnel he was “heartbroken.”
The stewards’ rulings underscore the fine line teams and drivers walk at street circuits where pit‑lane speed limits, grid discipline and restart positioning are enforced strictly. Perez’s demotion from P10 to P15 erased the points that would have marked a debut milestone for Cadillac in Formula 1; other drivers saw single infractions translate into multiple lost positions and, for some, heavier procedural penalties during the race.
The immediate consequence is clear in the official classification, but the story is not finished. Alpine’s Right of Review for Gasly presents the outstanding question: will the FIA reverse or uphold the pit‑lane penalties that cost him a podium? The review’s outcome will decide whether Gasly’s P3 is restored and whether the 2026 Monaco result — and the points table that flows from it — stands as published.
