Norris testimony saves Kimi Antonelli from Chinese GP Sprint penalty
Kimi Antonelli has avoided a grid penalty after an investigation following Sprint qualifying.
The FIA has confirmed that no further action is being taken against Kimi Antonelli, after he allegedly impeded Lando Norris during SQ2.
Norris had complained of the Mercedes driver being on the apex at Turn 1 when approaching quickly, forcing him to abort what he said over team radio was going to be a push lap during Sprint qualifying on Friday.
Kimi Antonelli avoids grid penalty after Chinese GP investigation
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A three-place grid drop was possible if Antonelli was found to have impeded Norris, with the Mercedes driver having been leaving the pit lane at the time, but the stewards have decided against issuing a punishment to the Italian teenager.
As Norris has since confirmed that he was on a ‘pushing warm-up lap’ rather than a fully-fledged lap, Antonelli has avoided a penalty – by the stewards’ own admission.
They wrote in their verdict: “The driver of Car 1 (Lando 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 (Kimi Antonelli) came out of the pit lane and onto the track.
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“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 the 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.”
Antonelli will be able to keep his grid slot of second after qualifying behind Mercedes teammate, George Russell, on Friday.
Verstappen denies infringement as Gasly cleared of impeding
Much like his colleague, Max Verstappen had also said in the heat of the moment that Pierre Gasly had impeded him in SQ2, on the exit of the Turn 14 hairpin just before running wide at the final corner.
After visiting the stewards, Verstappen confirmed the Alpine driver had not impeded him, and his former teammate had no further action taken against him after Sprint qualifying.
“The driver of Car 3 [Verstappen] said that the position of Car 10 [Gasly] affected his preferred line but he said that he was not impeded,” wrote the stewards in their verdict.
“Although the Stewards considered that the driver of Car 10 could theoretically have taken a different approach to the turn and stayed to the right at the exit, given the concession by the driver of Car 3 that he was not unnecessarily impeded by Car 10 in this case, we determined to take no further action.”
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