The team has moved to challenge the penalty sequence that dropped Russell out of the points in Monaco, with the race result still under scrutiny after Pierre Gasly was restored to the podium.
The FIA confirmed Mercedes had lodged a petition under Article 14.1.1 of the International Sporting Code over the decision relating to Russell’s pit lane speeding penalty.
A team representative is required to attend a virtual hearing on Saturday, where stewards will first determine whether Mercedes has presented a “significant and relevant new element which was unavailable to the stewards at the time of the Decision concerned.”
If that threshold is met, the hearing will move to a second stage, where the substance of Mercedes’ case will be considered.
Mercedes’ move follows Alpine’s successful right of review over Gasly’s two five-second pit lane speeding penalties, which were removed after Formula One Management acknowledged an error in the pit lane distance measurement used to calculate speeds at Monaco.
Gasly had crossed the line third before being demoted to seventh by the penalties, only for Alpine’s successful case to restore the Frenchman to the final podium position.
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That revised classification pushed Isack Hadjar back to fourth, Oscar Piastri to fifth, Liam Lawson to sixth and Arvid Lindblad to seventh.
The decision has frustrated rival teams, with several drivers penalised for similar pit lane speeding offences having already served their penalties during the race.
Russell was among those affected, with the Mercedes driver handed a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane, which he attempted to serve at a pit stop before stewards ruled it had not been served correctly, triggering a drive-through penalty that dropped him out of the points.
McLaren has already confirmed it has lodged a notification of appeal with the FIA International Court of Appeal over the stewards’ decision, while Red Bull is also understood to have proceeded with its own appeal.
The Woking squad said its appeal was not aimed at Alpine or Gasly, but at the broader sporting implications of penalties being removed after other competitors had already served their sanctions.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff admitted last weekend in Barcelona that the team faced an uphill battle in trying to recover Russell’s result, but said it had little choice but to pursue the matter.
“We’ve asked for a right of review, because you just simply want to sit on the table when decisions are being made,” said Wolff.
“[But] I still think it’s a long shot.”
Wolff suggested one possible avenue could involve treating Russell’s served drive-through as a time penalty, given a drive-through that cannot be served before the end of a race is converted into a 20-second addition.
“A drive-through, if it didn’t happen at the end, is equivalent of 20 seconds race time,” Wolff said.
“What would 20 seconds race time have meant for his result? Do we think that we realistically have a position, a chance of reverting the result? I don’t think so, but we definitely have to give it a go if we see that there is a millimetre of chance to do so and bring him back to whatever it was before.”
Mercedes must first convince stewards it has met the threshold for a right of review before the substance of its case can be considered.
A date for McLaren and Red Bull’s appeal is yet to be confirmed.
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