George Russell and Kimi Antonelli hit with grid penalties after Qualifying rule breaches in Bahrain

Mercedes drivers George Russell and Kimi Antonelli have both been hit with one-place grid penalties for the Bahrain Grand Prix, following rule breaches in Saturday’s Qualifying session.

Russell and Antonelli had qualified second and fourth respectively in an encouraging session for the Silver Arrows at the Bahrain International Circuit, but will now drop to third and fifth.

The stewards penalised the pair after they were sent into the fast lane of the pit lane before a session restart time – after Haas driver Esteban Ocon’s crash early in Q2 – was confirmed.

After hearing from Mercedes team representative Andrew Shovlin (Trackside Engineering Director), the Race Director and FIA Single Seater Sporting Director, and having reviewed video, timing, team radio and in-car video evidence, the stewards handed down their verdict.

BAHRAIN, BAHRAIN - APRIL 12: George Russell of Great Britain driving the (63) Mercedes AMG Petronas — Russell was the nearest rival to pole-sitting McLaren driver Oscar Piastri in Qualifying

“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 three of the timing screen, ‘estimated re-start time’, to be a message advising the actual re-start time,” read the panel’s decision document.

“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.

“It was also noted that the team’s Sporting Director, Mr [Ron] Meadows, was not present at the event and that normally he would be involved in the release process.

“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 stewards agree with this view particularly where there are only a few minutes remaining in the session.

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“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. The stewards agree with this view.

“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.

“We decide to impose a one position grid penalty. A similar breach in different circumstances could entail a more severe sporting penalty in future.”

The penalties mean Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc will climb from third to second on the grid, ahead of Russell, while Alpine’s Pierre Gasly will move from fifth to fourth, ahead of Antonelli.