Mercedes drivers George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli have both been handed one-place grid penalties for the 2025 Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix.
The Silver Arrows pair have been penalised by the stewards for joining the fast lane before a confirmed restart time was given in Q2, after Esteban Ocon’s Haas car was cleared by the marshalls.
Therefore, a one-place grid drop has been issued towards both drivers for Sunday’s race.
In a document released by the FIA, the stewards provided its reasoning for the punishments.
It read: “The team representative, Mr Shovlin, in evidence stated that he gave the instruction for the cars to be released, in error, having misinterpreted the message posted on
page 3 of the Timing Screen, “estimated re-start time” to be a message advising the actual re-start time.
“He argued that there was no sporting advantage gained in this case as there was sufficient time remaining (11 minutes) for other teams to perform
their run plans.
“The FIA Single Seater Sporting Director stated that such a move could be a sporting advantage in that it could enable a team to perform its run plan whereas other teams
may not be able to.
“The FIA Sporting Director argued that there needed to be a sporting penalty rather than a team fine, otherwise in future teams would release their cars as soon as the
estimated re-start time was published.
“Mr Shovlin argued that it was possible to give a non sporting penalty if the Stewards declared that it was not to be taken as a precedent but also stated that if a sporting
penalty was to be given, it should be mitigated.
“The Stewards agreed with the view that this breach required a sporting penalty however accept that the breach was unintentional and a genuine mistake by the team
for which Mr Shovlin apologised.
“A similar breach in different circumstances could entail a more severe sporting penalty in future.”
Russell will now start the Grand Prix from the second row in third place after his superb qualifying performance.
The British driver matched the pace of the McLarens and was only 0.168s off from pole position in the end.
Antonelli qualified in fourth place, but he will now start the race from fifth.
This means Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari will start from second place and Pierre Gasly has been rewarded for his efforts in qualifying as he is now bumped up to fourth.
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