F1 stewards explain Kimi Antonelli penalty decision at Chinese GP | F1 | Sport
They were investigating whether Antonelli should have been penalised for appearing to impede Lando Norris during SQ2. TV replays showed the McLaren driver starting a new lap before having to slow down at the first corner to avoid risking a collision with the slower-moving Mercedes ahead of him.
Antonelli and Norris were both summoned to the FIA offices at the Shanghai circuit to explain what had happened, after which it was ruled that there was to be no further action taken. Explaining that decision, the stewards confirmed that Norris had advocated for Antonelli during the behind-closed-doors hearing which led to them coming to the conclusion that no grid drop was necessary.
In the official decision document published by the FIA, the stewards wrote: “The driver of Car 1 [Norris] told us that he was on a ‘pushing warm up lap’ and not on a push lap. In other words, he was not actively seeking to set a meaningful lap time when Car 12 [Antonelli] came out of the pit lane and onto the track.
“Had Car 1 been on a push lap then, given the position of Car 12 on the track, Car 12 would have unnecessarily impeded Car 1. In light of the clear position taken by the driver of Car 1 that he was not impeded by Car 12 as he was not seeking to set a meaningful lap time, we took no further action.”
Norris’ position was in line with that of his team principal, Andrea Stella, who had told Sky Sports immediately after the session that he did not believe his driver was going to be putting in an improved lap time, even if he had not been forced to abort because of the positioning of Antonelli’s Mercedes.
Stella told Sky’s F1 pit lane reporter Ted Kravitz: “In reality, it wasn’t clear whether you would do the warm-up lap or the push lap. In the end, because of the way he was using the energy, I don’t think that was going to be a fast lap. But the stewards will take a look.”
The lack of a penalty means the perfect Sprint qualifying result for Mercedes who have locked out the front row for the start of Saturday’s short-form race. Russell, who took pole, said: “The car has been feeling amazing. We knew after Melbourne we had a really good car, the engine is performing really well and the car was a joy to drive.”
