A key FIA figure implored the stewards to hand a sporting penalty for both George Russell and Kimi Antonelli after Mercedes were found guilty of a rule break during qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix. As a result, both Silver Arrows drivers must serve a one-place grid penalty for Sunday’s race.
Russell had qualified second behind only pole-sitter Oscar Piastri, with team-mate Antonelli two places behind in fourth. But they will now start the race third and fifth respectively, with Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly the ones benefitting from their punishments.
They were penalised because, during qualifying, Mercedes sent both into the pit lane after a red flag stoppage before an official restart time had been communicated. Race control had given teams an estimated time but it was misinterpreted by Mercedes. Their highly experienced sporting director Ron Meadows would have usually been in charge of making such calls. But he is absent this weekend and is attending his son’s wedding instead.
Trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin has taken on his responsibilities this weekend. And, speaking to the stewards after the session, he held his hands up and admitted he had made an error.
He argued that their drivers should not be penalised for the team’s mistake. However, the FIA single seater sporting director Tim Malyon was in the room and argued that the stewards needed to send a message and hand Russell and Antonelli a grid drop.
The stewards said: “The team representative, Andrew 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.
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“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, 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.
“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.”
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