Following the red flag for Esteban Ocon’s crash, Mercedes sent both of their drivers out into the fast lane of the pit lane with 11 minutes on the clock, but critically before a re-start time for the session had been given by the FIA.
The stewards determined this to be a breach of Article 12.2.1 i) of the International Sporting Code, but also “non-compliance” with the race director’s event notes for the weekend.
Item 19 of these notes states that “If the Free Practice Session or Qualifying Session is suspended, cars may only enter the Fast Lane after the re-start time is confirmed via the official messaging system.”
In the stewards’ hearing, the team’s representative and trackside engineering director, Andrew Shovlin, said it was his instruction for the cars to be released, but one made “in error” after he misinterpreted the message.
He took “estimated re-start time” to mean the actual re-start time, and while he apologised for this “genuine mistake” he also argued that there was “no sporting advantage to be gained” as there was sufficient time left for the other teams to perform their run plans.
The Single Seater Sporting Director for the FIA didn’t agree however, and stated that this move could have provided a sporting advantage in that it could allow a team to perform its run plan where others may not be able to. It’s also noted in their decision document that the stewards agreed with this.
In determining the appropriate penalty, Shovlin argued that a non-sporting penalty should be possible if the stewards were to make it clear that it was not setting a precedent, but if a sporting penalty was on the cards, that it should be mitigated.
The stewards felt that the latter should be the case, imposing one-place grid drops on Russell and Antonelli as a result of the breach being “unintentional and a genuine mistake by the team”.
They’re also quick to state that “a similar breach in different circumstances, could entail a more severe sporting penalty, in future” – establishing that precedent.
On track, George Russell finished the qualifying session on the front row in P2 next to Oscar Piastri, with Kimi Antonelli taking a career best F1 start of P4.
With these penalties, Russell is demoted to P3 promoting Charles Leclerc to the front row, and Antonelli is pushed to P5, with Gasly moving up to P4.
