[Mercedes Drivers Suffer One-Place Grid Penalty for Qualifying Infraction]

George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes have been hit with a one-place grid drop each following an infraction during the Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying. This means that Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc will take Russell’s front-row spot, while Alpine driver Pierre Gasly is promoted to fourth on the grid at Antonelli’s expense.

[Infraction Explained: Early Release of Cars into Pitlane]

The incident occurred after Q2 was red-flagged due to a crash involving Haas driver Esteban Ocon. In the chaos, both Mercedes drivers were sent out into the pitlane before race control had announced a restart time, which is against the sporting regulations. As a result, they will each drop one position on the grid for Sunday’s grand prix.

The FIA race stewards found that Mercedes‘ head of trackside engineering, Andrew Shovlin, made an error in interpreting the timing screen’s messages from race control. He mistakenly believed a message about the estimated re-start time was the actual re-start time, leading to the early release of the cars.

The FIA Sporting Director stated that such a move could potentially provide a sporting advantage by allowing a team to perform its run plan while others may not be able to, especially with limited time remaining in the session.

[Penalty Imposed: A Precedent and Warning]

The grid drop rather than a fine was imposed to set a precedent and discourage teams from releasing cars into the pitlane early in the future. The FIA Sporting Director argued that a sporting penalty, rather than a team fine, would be more effective in preventing such incidents in the future.

The stewards accepted that Mercedes made an “unintentional and genuine mistake” and imposed a single grid place drop as a warning. They cautioned that repeats could lead to more severe penalties.